Into the Woods
by Lyxie
Summary: She's the youngest of seven princesses and a powerful sorceress in her own right. But during a seven day festival in one of the most wild and remote parts of the kingdom, Zelda awakens more than just the guardian spirit of the woods...
1. The Spring

_I'm back. Boo!_

_What is there to say? Read and enjoy. The story will pick up much more after this chapter, I promise. _

_**Also, you HAVE to check out my good friend CrazygurlMadness's newest fic, "Fighting Gravity." Do it! It's brilliant and perfect and always amazing all of the time.**_

_I wanted to get this story out before I get ahold of Skyward Sword (going in just a few hours to pick it up, what WHAT!) and disappear into a void of Zelda Happiness._

_You can also find all of my notes from research, plus freebies and sneak previews and other things, on my blog, cobweb city. There's a link on my profile._

_And with that said, enjoy!_

_-L_

* * *

><p>Gray dawn light spread over the encampment, illuminating the smoldering remains of campfires and the occasional revelers asleep on the ground where they'd fallen. A few die-hard celebrants sat swaying in the morning dew, clinging to their goblets, bleary eyed.<p>

Zelda stepped out of the royal pavilion, slippered footfalls silent on the damp grass. Her guards acknowledged her once with a nod of their heads, but remained at their post when they saw the half-moon of a double shadow clinging to the hem of Her Highness's cloak. She would be safe without them.

Zelda skirted around the occasional bodies littering the ground, drawing the hood of her cloak over her blinding golden hair. She breathed in the crisp, cool air, reveling in the scents: earth, summer grass, woodsmoke, the forest. She raised her eyes to the tree line, up ahead through the other side of camp. She'd been itching to explore the forest since they'd arrived yesterday afternoon, but there hadn't yet been time. She was weary from little sleep— the celebrations had run late, and she'd been up well past midnight— but she was determined to spend some time alone in the woods.

It was hardly her first Carrus Din, but it was the first time they'd had the celebration at the foothills of the Snow Spine mountains, and Zelda was curious about this wild land she'd never been to before. She'd never seen the famous twisted firs of the Snow Spine region, and had been fascinated by their nearly spectral appearance. It was a far cry from the beautiful beech trees of the sunny Ordon woodlands where Zelda had often spent her summers growing up, and though Ordon was beautiful, the Snow Spine region was breathtaking. And eerie.

Zelda stepped beyond the boundaries of camp and headed towards the edge of the woods, leaving the large, grassy expanse where the Carrus Din Festival was being held. When the royal augur had declared that the festival would take place in the taiga, there had been no small amount of surprise; it was well over a week's journey from the palace up to the base of the frigid Snow Spine. But the people dared not disobey the orders of the Goddesses, so the Carrus Din was planned accordingly. The festival lasted seven days and seven nights, and any resident of Hyrule who so wished could attend. It was the celebration of midsummer and of life; it was a celebration of sweet summer's promise and ripening and the turning of the seasons from warmth to cool as blossoms thickened and became fruit. It was a testament to the power of Din, keeper of the rich earth.

The Carrus Din festival was usually held closer to Death Mountain, the mountain that was said to be the living body of Din in Hyrule— just as Carrus Nayru was held by the icy shores of Lake Hylia in the dead of winter and Carrus Farore occurred in the fairy-lit glades of Ordon in spring. But the augur had spoken, and so for the first time in living memory the Royal family, and many of the nobles, and no small number of the peasantry journeyed north in a great caravan to revel for seven days and seven nights in the renewing power of Din. The festival would end with a midsummer celebration, where everyone would pray from dawn till dusk, and dance the night away around bonfires.

It was the first day of the festival today, and as soon as the sun was fully up, the celebrations would begin and Zelda would likely be unable to slip away again to explore the forest on her own. She reached the edge of the meadow and glanced over her shoulder at the colorful campground behind her. Small tendrils of smoke drifted skyward from woodfires. Tent tops sagged drunkenly this way and that. There was no movement in the camp in the silence of the early morning. The Princess turned and stepped forward into the foggy darkness.

It was dimmer below the tree lines, and a sudden shiver crawled up Zelda's spine as she stepped from light into darkness. Zelda's focus turned inward for a moment as her consciousness brushed at the sparkling shadow that she shared her life force with. It stirred once, sent a comforting wave of warmth out to her, and then was still. Reassured that her protector would keep her safe, Zelda returned her attention to the world around her.

A carpet of lichen padded her footsteps and low, spiny shrubs clung to the edges of her cloak and gown. Zelda stopped to gather a few ripe cloudberries that she spotted sprouting from the ground and popped one into her mouth, smiling at the sweet taste and creamy texture. She progressed on through the forest, keeping careful track of the position of the sun. She didn't want to get lost.

The forest was beautiful. Striking mosses and unusual flowers grew in the dense shade of firs, birches, willows, and spruces; the occasional pine would rise up from the forest floor, gnarled and knotted and twisting its way skyward. Zelda found one blackened pine that had clearly been struck by lightning and had burned; she rested a palm flat against the trunk of the tree and, reaching out with her magic, felt the echo of that strike of white fire. Caressing the bark once, she moved on.

It wasn't long before she found a wide creek that was murmuring quietly in the dim and dappled sun. She knelt and dipped a finger into the water, inhaled sharply at how cold it was, and then stilled. She felt wild magic. Zelda shut her eyes briefly, tapping into the power source within her, and opened them again, examining the water. It was glinting golden, and Zelda's lips curved upward. Letting her power go and blinking as the water faded back to normal, Zelda rose and began to follow the creek up to its source.

She stopped and grabbed a second handful of tangerine-colored cloudberries as she walked, making her way carefully over the forest floor, not wanting to pierce her foot on a sharp stick or ruin her slippers on stones. It wasn't many minutes before Zelda found the source of the stream, though; a wide, shallow pool. She recognized it at once as a healing spring, and smiled again to herself as she stepped out of her shoes and rolled her stockings down. She pulled off her cloak and laid it on a tree branch, and then drew the layers of her gown over her shoulders until she stood only in her small chemise, bare-legged and shivering in the cool shade. Then, taking a deep breath, she removed her chemise, draped it over the tree branch, and waded naked into the water to receive the blessing of this holy spring's spirit.

The water was an icy shock to her system and Zelda gasped as it bit at her calves. By Nayru, it was cold. But she pressed on towards the center of the spring, carefully making her way over the slippery rocks on the bottom of the pond. She struggled to keep her balance as she waded deeper, sucking in a lungful of air as the water swept up from her knees, up her thighs, agonizingly higher, until she stood waist deep in the center of the spring, unbound hair running loose over her breasts, shoulders, and back. She balanced carefully on the slippery bottom of the spring, then took another pained breath in, shutting her eyes. She exhaled as she let the magic within her unfurl, spreading out of her body and through the water, sending out curious feelers and strengthening as the holy powers of the healing spring soaked into it.

She felt it the moment that the guardian of the spring became aware of her. A great consciousness swung upward from the darkness to focus upon her, and Zelda did her best not to quake in intimidation. This spring was older and wilder than any of the springs where she'd previously been. Though that wasn't many; wading naked into a spring was expected (and highly encouraged) behavior in sorceresses, but Zelda's royal status tended to complicate things. She'd bathed in the spring at Ordon, and again in the spring at Kakariko, and once in the spring at Zora's domain; though those spirits were old, they were familiar with the royal family, and used to human magicians. This one was not.

Well, thought Zelda, here goes nothing.

"I am Zelda, the Seventh Princess of Hyrule," she announced softly. "I have come to seek the blessing of the guardian of this spring."

She felt the spirit's consciousness studying her. It felt wild and untamed; she felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff over a vast drop, face turned into the whirling fingers of the wind. She wondered how long it had been since a sorcerer or sorceress had come to this spring.

The spirit seemed to make up its' mind, and Zelda braced herself for the rushing warmth of a blessing. She wasn't, however, expecting what came next.

Welcome, Forest Queen.

The voice that spoke into her mind was beautiful and frozen and soft and sharp all at once- like snow on pine needles or the creaking of cold wood. Zelda gasped in surprise and lost her balance. Her feet slid straight out from under her on the algae-covered rocks and she found herself embraced by the frigid water. She came up spluttering, gasping in the cold, even as she felt the incredible power of a blessing fuse itself to her own magic. And like that, the consciousness of the spirit was gone. Teeth chattering, Zelda slipped and slid her way back out of the spring. She pushed her sodden hair out of her face and raised her eyes from the floor of the spring to look up— and spotted a wolf watching her from the shore.

In shock, Zelda reacted instinctively. The sparkling shadow within her reared its' head and a red-eyed falcon materialized between Zelda and the wolf, flapping his wings and screeching protectively.

The wolf sat calmly, watching Zelda. She wrapped her arms over her chest and looked back. Zelda had seen sketches of wolves, of course, but this was the first wolf she'd actually laid eyes upon, and even with her lack of lupine experience there seemed to be something different about this one. His fur was charcoal grey, but he had white swirls of fur along his sides, and a marking on his forehead that looked, to Zelda's eyes, almost like a crown. His bright blue eyes remained trained on her, and there was terrifying intelligence in them. He bowed his head in an incline, then stood, shook himself once, and trotted into the forest. The Sheikah watched the wolf go, and then turned to Zelda, changing shape in midair until he took the form of a man.

"Don't even start in on me," she groused at him, wobbling her way up the slippery rocks and out of the spring. The Sheikah followed, watching Zelda as she got dressed.

Sheik was one of the shadow guardians that devoted themselves to defending the royals of Hyrule. The day Zelda had been born, Sheik had appeared by her cradle, sent by the Great Host to share her life force and defend her. He had been bound to her, and she to him, and Sheik was now as much a part of the youngest Princess as an arm or a leg.

"I wasn't going to lecture you," Sheik said, watching Zelda struggle into her clothes, the fabric sticking to her damp skin. His movements were vaguely birdlike as he swung his hands awkwardly. "I was going to apologize."

"For what?"

"Not being more watchful. It is my duty—"

"Forget it and hand me my shoes, bird. We were both knocked off balance."

"As you wish, Lady," responded Sheik, the corners of his mouth quirking up. He handed Zelda her slippers, then helped her tie her cloak around her shoulders.

"What was going on with that wolf, anyway?" she asked Sheik, pulling her cloak around her and over her head, shivering, as they set off through the woods in the direction of camp. Zelda's desire to explore had been thoroughly drained.

"I don't know, my Lady. It felt like no ordinary wolf, and had great power. None of my kind can recall encountering a creature like that before."

Zelda frowned. The Sheikah shared the knowledge and memories of all their generations on the Great Host, the spiritual center and life source of all the shadow beings. Sheik had never not known something before.

"What about the spring?" Zelda asked. "Did you hear it? It spoke to me, in my head."

"No, Lady," Sheik responded. "I heard nothing. Though the spirits of springs have spoken before, it occurs infrequently, and usually only to saviors or protectors— such as the Hero-In-Green of legend. What did this spirit say to you?"

"It welcomed me," Zelda responded, hopping over a log. "And called me the Forest Queen."

"My people have no knowledge of a forest queen," Sheik responded after a moment.

Zelda blew out her breath between her teeth. "Right," she said. "Tell Impa we're coming." Sheik nodded once, which Zelda knew meant that the message had been communicated. Impa was one of two rogue Sheikah- a Sheikah who wasn't bound to a Royal host, but instead served as a general guardian and guide, and as an anchor for the minds of all the Sheikah who served the Royal family. Impa was very, very old- older even than Sheik- and had been with the Royal family since Hyrule was only a dream, and might at least know what books to look in for answers to the strange situation, if nothing else.

As legend went- Zelda had never been able to get a straight answer out of anyone as to how truthful the legend was- the Sheikah once lived alongside the other inhabitants of Hyrule, and had taught the ways of magic to the people of the country. They guarded the secrets of the universe, protected the land, and served the King and the Goddesses. But a king rose among the Sheikah, and he was thirsty for power. He had the people hoard their knowledge and, eventually, they rebelled against the royal family and tried to take the kingdom of Hyrule for their own.

The Goddesses, furious at the great injustice, had taken the Sheikah's human forms, and had banished the Sheikah to the Ghostly Ether, to dwell in the in-between in the forms of the animals they had failed to protect, until such time as they were ready to repent for their sins by binding their life fully and finally to that of a royal. Then- and only then- could they leave the Ghostly Ether, and take the two-legged forms that they had once held.

Zelda's eyes slid over to look at her protector. As always, he wore the traditional kusari garb of Sheikah warriors, though his face was not hidden behind the tenugui draped around his neck. His handsome, angular features were ageless— he appeared anywhere between twenty years old to fifty, though Zelda knew that, as a Sheikah, he was likely much older than that. Sheikah lived to be hundreds of years, and only bound themselves to a member of the Hylian Royal family when they were very, very old; the process of binding to a Hylian life force meant that a Sheikah had to detach him or herself from the Great Host, and that when the Royal died, so did the Sheikah tied to them.

When Zelda was young, she had asked Sheik why he came to her if it was just going to kill him.

"I've lived many years, my Lady, and done all that I may do with my life as a Sheikah," he responded. "There is nothing left for me but to use my knowledge in the most sacred way, so that I may pass on to the Goddesses and know that I have led a redeemed life."

Zelda grabbed Sheik's long braid and tugged on it once. They were nearing the edge of the woods, and Zelda could see the first hints of riotous color through the trees.

"You're dismissed, Sheik," she said simply. "Go back to sleep."

He inclined his head once. "As my Lady wishes," he responded, and vanished as suddenly as he had appeared. Within her, Zelda felt the shadow that was Sheik curl comfortably around her heart, and drop into a restful awareness.

Without the distraction of Sheik's physical presence, Zelda found herself suddenly colder in her sodden clothes, and hurried the rest of the way to the edge of the forest and out into the meadow. The campground appeared before her, and was slowly coming to life; she could see the sluggish bustle of hungover Hylians going about their morning routines.

Standing at the north end of the field, Zelda had an excellent view: the small tents of the lower classes laid on the outhernmost end of the meadow. Densely packed, they were nevertheless brightly colored, and their occupants seemed cheerful. They gave way to the more colorful tents of the nobles, which grew in size until the many peaks of the royal pavilion rose above the campground. There were ten tents in the royal pavilion in all: the King's tent, the tent of the Queen-Consort, the tent of the high prince, and one tent for each of the seven princesses. Zelda set off across the glade towards the Royal Pavilion, making towards the smallest of the ten tents— a pale pink one that she was happy to call her own.

She entered into the campsite and passed through the ring of nobles' tents arranged around the royal pavilion in a way that struck Zelda as part protectiveness and part sycophancy. Nobody was drinking now that she could see; those who had passed out on the ground had either been moved, or had managed to wake up long enough to drag themselves to their cots. Zelda brushed past one nobleman who was stumbling through the encampment with his hands pressed to his forehead, and hurried through the perimeter marking off the boundaries to the royal area. When she stepped past her guards and into her tent, she found Impa waiting for her.

The tall female Sheikah bowed once to Zelda and handed her the warmed towel she'd prepared. Zelda immediately began shucking her semi-damp clothing, peeling it away from her frozen skin.

"Well?" Zelda asked Impa as she stripped for the second time that day. She knew that everything she'd told Sheik would now be known by Impa, though this was hardly alarming. Both Sheikah had Zelda's full trust.

"The Forest Wife, or Huldra, is a creature of lore from north of the Snow Spine, in the ice wastes, who lures men into the forest to suck the life from them. There is also a tale from the north of the Snow Spine of a man who ventured into the forest to find a bride, and encountered a princess who had been enchanted to take the form of a mouse. There are no documented spiritual springs in the Peak Province. Additionally, the only unique holy creature known to inhabit the Peak Province is the yeti, which hasn't been sighted in seven hundred years."

"Does any of that help?" Zelda asked as she tucked the towel around herself and reached for a second blanket.

"We're dealing with a wholly unprecedented situation," Impa said. She'd forgotten to blink her red Sheikah eyes more than twice— a sure sign that she was thinking hard. "Please begin from your entrance into the woods."

So Zelda recounted the tale in as much detail as she could— the lichen, the cloudberries, discovering the creek and following it to the spring, and entering the water. She relayed the seeming immensity of the guardian of the spring, and the warmth of the blessing, and- finally- the odd wolf.

Impa blinked twice slowly. "Tales of benevolent wolves are abundant in this region," she said at last. "Geri and Freki, the divine wolves. The legend of the wolf mother who reared a hero called Sparks-Of-Steel. The fable of the prince, the wolf, and the golden bird may have roots in a similar situation to what you encountered this morning. The origin of the children's story of the Beast King who took the form of a wolf also comes from this region. There is also the occurrence of the Hero's Shade during the Second Great Imprisonment nine hundred years ago, but that wolf was gold, and appeared only to the Hero-In-Green, and moreover is not specific to the Snow Spine."

"So how much of that folklore is actually real history?" Zelda asked, curious. Impa narrowed red eyes at the princess and chose not to answer. This was hardly unexpected; the female Sheikah was notoriously closemouthed about what myths were real and what myths were just myths.

"Likely, you are dealing with a deity or set of deities," Impa continued. "This region has not produced any notable sorcerers or sorceresses in more than three hundred years; only the occasional hedge witch, witch, or low-level magician. Your dip into the spring would be expected behavior of a sorceress towards regional guardians in a more magically abundant area; most probably, however, you've awoken something that laid dormant for a while."

"Is that a bad thing?" Zelda asked, chewing on her lip.

"Bad and good are both relative terms," responded Impa. "Certainly your actions will have negative repercussions somewhere in the balance of the world, but also positive ones I'm sure. It's impossible to say for now what effects will arise of this situation, so we shall merely wait and see."

Zelda resisted the urge to groan.

That evening, Zelda sat on her cushioned stool by the campfire, watching the flames pensively as people all around her reveled. She was clothed in the traditional First Night garb; blue gown, mask, blue cloak. Tonight, Zelda's eldest sister Lulu would sing. She was a favorite of the people of the kingdom with her beauty and gentleness, and her pale skin and her long, dark hair. She'd been wed to a Zora prince for more than ten years, and had borne him two princes and a princess.

"What's got you in a mood?" asked Aveil, Zelda's fifth sister. Her riotous red hair had been pulled into a loose chignon and the look suited her; Aveil's bright coloring reflected her short temper, and the windswept look complemented the wildness in her eyes.

"Nothing," Zelda responded, glad that she had her mask to hide her expression. Aveil quirked a brow from behind her own mask, but didn't push the point. Instead, she turned to Saria, the third princess, and began to gossip about some of the nobles who were in the camp. Zelda sighed and looked out across the fire again. It would be time for Lulu's performance soon.

The augur had hailed it as a holy omen that the King had produced seven daughters from his two wives, and had sung of the fabled seven wise men of legend. So, somehow, the Princesses had all been roped into learning a different skill to perform on holiday nights. Lulu, the oldest, sang like an angel. The second princess, Julietta, wrote and recited poetry, while the third princess, Saria, played flute. The fourth princess, Ashei, would sword fight; her twin, Aveil, would demonstrate sleight of hand tricks that she often used to infuriate the palace staff. The sixth princess, Zelda's favorite sister Tetra, would dance. Zelda, the seventh and youngest princess, would finish out the celebrations with a showing of sorcery and a short performance on her harp.

Zelda always dreaded her turn to perform.

Lulu, however, didn't, and it was evident as the beautiful woman strode out into the firelight. All around, the crowds quieted; they'd arranged themselves on a gently sloping hill in the enormous meadow where the camp was, and Lulu stood at the bottom, calm and cool. Without any accompaniment, she opened her mouth and began to sing. The hillside was silent and still as Lulu's song washed over them. Zelda shut her eyes and let the sound of her eldest sister's voice sooth her.

Lulu was twelve years older than Zelda, and had often sung Zelda to sleep when she was young. As a child, Zelda had always looked up to Lulu; her distant oldest sister was a fountain of gentleness and serenity that Zelda strove to emulate.

"Lu sure has a set of pipes," Ashei said, leaning over to whisper in Zelda's ear as Lulu paused for breath. Aveil hissed and elbowed her twin in the side, and for a moment it looked as though Ashei would retaliate, but Lulu began to sing again and the two calmed down.

Lulu sang three songs, each five minutes long; at the end of the quarter hour, Zelda was feeling more peaceful than she had all day. After she and Impa had consulted on the matter of the wolf, the Sheikah had vanished to investigate, and Zelda had been swept up by her sisters in a frenzy of prayer, celebration, more prayer, more celebration, and the occasional meal. The worry over what had happened in the spring that morning was a constant burning spark in the back of Zelda's brain, nagging away; several times that day, she'd felt the soothing stir of Sheik alongside her soul as he tried to comfort her. After dinner, there hadn't been time to speak with Impa before Lulu's recital, and as the Royal family stood and filed away from the hillside toward the packed ground that had been designated the "dance floor" and the musicians in the camp struck up a lively tune, Zelda doubted that she'd be able to speak to Impa until the next morning.

"Look at the King go," Tetra whispered to Zelda as their father drew their mother into a dance. The two crown royals danced alone for a moment before the high prince and heir apparent, Daphnes VI, took to the floor with his wife. Lulu followed with one of the masked members of the nobility- her husband couldn't stay out of water long enough to attend the celebrations- and slowly, one by one, the princesses were each claimed and trickled out onto the dance floor.

Zelda danced first an obnoxious nobleman whose name she couldn't care to recall; after that, she danced with Daphnes, then a baron, then one of her father's advisors, then her sister Julietta's husband. She was standing to the side, breathing the sweet night air and cooling down when a voice came from behind her.

"Highness, may I have this dance?"

Zelda turned to see a bowing man of medium height wearing a wolf mask. Zelda didn't recognize him on first glance, but inwardly shrugged it off. There were many members of the nobility she would not instantly recognize— Zelda tended to be more interested in her studies of sorcery than in the peerage. And she felt like she knew him.

"Of course," she responded, and reached out to take the hand that was offered to her.

Unfamiliar magic sizzled across her skin. Zelda inhaled sharply in surprise, her eyes jerking up to the man's face. She couldn't read his expression from behind his wolf's mask, but his blue eyes cut straight through her. She was glad for her own porcelain mask, which had been painted into a coy smile. There was no polite way for her to withdraw her hand, so she let the man lead her out into the part of the meadow that had become a dance floor.

He was easily the best partner she'd ever danced with; his movements were swift, graceful, and sure, and he guided her with an expert hand. Still, he watched her with a light in his eyes that reminded Zelda of a predator ready to pounce. Finally, she couldn't help her curiosity any longer.

"Forgive my rudeness. My Lord seems familiar, though I can't recall when we've met." Zelda said simply.

"We've met before, yes," he responded noncommittally.

"Would my Lord care to refresh my memory?"

"Ah," his voice was teasing, "There's no fun in that, my Lady."

Zelda wasn't sure how to interpret his response. She chanced a look at his face and was met with a very nice view of the place where the mask clung to the man's jaw. It was a strong jaw, and his skin was honey-colored; not too tan from being out in the fields all day, but not the sickly pale of many of the nobles. Zelda was surprised to find it attractive.

Another spark of that weird magic shot from his hands through her.

"There's magic on you. I can feel it. It's like no magic I've ever encountered."

"I am not a traditionally trained sorcerer," the man responded. He must have been able to read the expression of fear in her eyes because he was quick to soothe her. "I'm hardly a rogue or a black magician, my Lady, and I am trained. Just not as you have been, in dull stone towers surrounded by dusty tomes."

"Hm." Zelda let him lead her in a circle, thinking. "What type of magic is it that you practice, then?"

His eyes crinkled as he smiled below the mask. His voice became rough. "The wildest kind, my Lady."

His answer intrigued her. She was about to open her mouth to ask him another question when the dance ended. He bowed to her and she curtseyed low. When she rose from her dip, she took the arm he offered. They walked from the floor.

"Might I have a name for my Lord?" she asked him.

"Perhaps, but a name is a rather large secret," he responded. "Ask me again later tonight, and maybe I will tell you. Good evening, my Lady." He bowed, and Zelda blinked in surprise. He was gone.

Zelda felt heat rise up her neck even as she spun to look for the man. But he had vanished, as swiftly and silently as the wind.

She was more shaken than she would admit. Zelda moved over to the refreshments table, only to have one of the royal attendants scamper up to her, bearing a tray with drink and food options. Zelda selected a goblet of honey wine and sank into a stool beside her sister, Tetra. At twenty-one, Tetra was only a year older than Zelda, and the two looked similar enough that they might be mistaken for twins. But Tetra's skin was a little more golden than Zelda's, and her hair had been bleached by the sun; the sixth Princess was an avid adventurer, and spent much time sailing on Lake Hylia with Aveil, or riding horses, or sword fighting with Ashei. The King had long ago given up hope on taming the sixth Princess and molding her into a proper lady; Tetra was just as high-spirited as the twins, Aveil and Ashei, and was equally determined to forge her own path. The King, though at first infuriated with the antics of what had been termed "the Trio," had eventually shrugged off his daughters' unladylike behavior.

"With seven daughters," he'd concluded, "at least I still have four who are suitably marriageable."

Though Tetra's behavior was often wild, she was still as beautiful as any of her sisters, and lately more and more suitors had been coming to the castle in pursuit of her. She had the same coy and mischievous smile as Aveil, set below inky black eyes that she'd inherited from their father.

"What's up with you?" Tetra asked her sister as Zelda pushed up her mask and tossed back a generous portion of her wine. "Got slime on you?"

"Men," muttered Zelda darkly into her goblet.

"I noticed you were dancing with a nice, strong one," said Tetra, bumping her sister with her shoulder. "Did he break your heart?"

Zelda turned to look at her sister. Even with her mask on, Zelda could read the amusement in her elder sister's eyes.

"You're awful," Zelda responded. Tetra's eyes crinkled, and Zelda was quite sure that the sixth princess was wearing the same self-satisfied smirk that had been painted on the outside of her mask— the same smirk she wore when she'd successfully irritated someone, or executed some stupid stunt in her sailboat.

"I'm so afraid," teased Tetra. "You might use one of your Words of Power and light me on fire."

"Don't tempt me," Zelda fired back, tossing back the rest of her wine and pulling her mask back over her face. "And anyway, what about you? Weren't you dancing with that very handsome lord? You know, that one that begged father for your hand in marriage because you'd… how did he put it… 'bear him a passel 'o healthy bairns'?"

"If you don't shut up," Tetra said serenely, smoothing her silken blue skirts around her, "I will make you regret it every single day until we get back to the palace, at which point I will start putting frogs in your bed."

"I'll turn them into butterflies," responded Zelda, unperturbed.

"Oh, Goddesses," murmured Tetra, her eyes focusing on someone headed their way. "Zelda, loan me Sheik. I need a dance partner— that mandolin guy is coming my way."

"Lord Freedle?" asked Zelda, peering around in interest.

"Just loan me Sheik," ground out Tetra between her teeth.

Zelda shrugged and sent the request to her Sheikah. Reluctantly, he appeared, standing before Tetra in a Sheikah mask.

"Thank you, Sheik," squeaked Tetra in relief, grabbing Sheik's hand and rushing off to the dance floor. Zelda shook her head, sighing behind her mask, and shut her eyes.

Tetra had never said anything, but Zelda knew why the princess spent so much time out on the lake. There was a young man who lived on the shore and kept her boat in top order. Zelda had met the man once when she and Tetra had gone out sailing together, and she'd seen the way that her sister looked at the young sailor— and she saw the way that the young sailor looked back. Zelda only hoped that the two could find happiness, somehow; though the second Princess, Julietta, had married a knight, the young man on the lake was of low rank and had no fortune. He hadn't been able to come along to the Carrus Din, either, and Zelda knew it was upsetting Tetra.

A presence in front of her caused her to open her eyes.

"So sorry," said the man. "My apologies, Princess; I didn't see that your eyes were shut. I merely thought to ask you for a dance, but if you are busy resting…"

"Not at all," said Zelda, rising gracefully to her feet, well aware that she'd been sitting alone for far longer than was appropriate for a woman of her rank. "I would be pleased to dance with you, Lord….?"

"Makivelo," responded the man. He was well-dressed in the blues of the evening, his fiery red hair combed neatly back from his smiling mask. He extended a gloved hand to Zelda, which she took, and allowed him to lead her out to the dance clearing.

"Forgive me, Princess, for being so terribly forward with you," said the man once they'd begun a slow promenade. "We've met before, you see— I am the Chancellor of this province, though I rarely make it to the Castle. I was at your coming of age ball, though."

"Yes, and I stepped on your toes horribly," responded Zelda warmly as the memory came back to her. "I do hope to prove myself a more worthy partner this time around, sir."

"It was no trouble at all, Princess— I believe the fault was all mine, for leading you so poorly," the man said humbly. Zelda laughed lightly.

The Chancellor led her masterfully through the steps of the dance, lightly coaxing small talk from her. When the dance was done, Zelda was feeling pleasantly lightheaded from the exertion and the wine. She took her leave of the Chancellor, and stood to the side of the dance floor long enough for Sheik to return to her, then allowed herself to be swept into another series of dances with lords, barons, and her father.

The hours passed in a blur, and every moment Zelda felt herself growing more and more tired with each dance. At last, the end of the night was close. Standing under the cover of a grove of trees, Zelda yawned into the back of her hand and looked longingly in the direction of the royal pavilion. The dance was almost over; after the formal dances were through, a number of smaller informal dances and general revelry would continue throughout the night and early into the morning. Zelda didn't know if she would be able to last through the end of the formal dances, let alone make it through any of the informal ones; she felt herself flagging, tired out from her long and eventful day.

A sudden, strong presence to her left had her jerking her head around. There before her stood the same masked man from earlier that night— the one with the wild magic.

"Dance with me, Princess," he said to her in his growling baritone. Zelda found she could not refuse, nor did she want to; obediently, she placed her hand in his outstretched one and allowed him to lead her out into the clearing. A slow waltz began to play.

His eyes narrowed on her and his arms tightened on her as she put her hand in his.

"You're tired," he said simply as more of that strange magic shot through his palm to hers.

"It's been a long day," she responded.

"You're too tired," he growled.

"I'm fine," snapped Zelda, feeling a little annoyed. The man's taut muscles relaxed a little and his grip on her loosened.

"My apologies, Princess," he said quietly. "I was merely concerned."

"Your concern is appreciated, but unwarranted," Zelda responded stiffly. "I don't even know your name, Sir."

"I think you do," he responded, a grin in his voice. Zelda looked up at him, furrowing her brows.

"I'm sure I don't," she said. Blue eyes crinkled behind his wolf's mask.

"I'm sure you do," he responded. "But you may call me Link, if you would like."

"I can't call you by your given name," hissed Zelda. "That's scandalous! What's your title, sir?"

The infuriating man was laughing now.

"You may guess, and I will tell you if you are correct or incorrect," he said simply.

"That's ridiculous," Zelda scoffed.

Laughing blue eyes drilled a hole straight through her. "Afraid you won't know?"

"No," responded Zelda with more bravado than she felt.

"Let's make a deal, then," the man said, bringing his masked face next to her ear. "Or are you afraid?"

"What's your deal?" Zelda asked, her stubbornness getting the best of her.

"You may ask me one question each time we dance," he responded. "At the end of the night, you may guess what my title is. If you have not guessed correctly by the end of the Carrus Din, you will owe me one kiss."

"And if I guess correctly?" Zelda asked.

"Name your prize," the man said simply.

Zelda thought for a moment as they spun in slow circles. She realized then that she felt better- more energized- than she had all night. The slow, pulsing flood of power being siphoned into her through her hand jerked her out of it.

"You're feeding me magic," she accused.

"You're feeling better now, aren't you?" asked the man. His eyes crinkled in mirth. Zelda wanted to smack what she was sure was a very annoying grin straight off his face.

"If I win, and guess your title, you'll give me a Token," responded Zelda.

A Token was a sacred thing to high-level magicians and sorcerers, and was the ultimate Boon. It contained a piece of a person's power that could boost a sorcerer's own natural abilities; a Token of this man's wild magic could prove invaluable for Zelda in a pinch.

The man smiled, seemingly pleased with her response.

"Accepted," said the man. "Do you accept the deal, Princess?"

She wondered for a moment if she was making a mistake, but then shook it off. There was no harm in a kiss, and the opportunity to win a Token from this man… well, why not?

"Accepted," she responded. She felt the magic of the deal wind itself around the two of them, then settle into place, like a warm quilt. As the last of the magic seeped through her skin, the music ended. Zelda pulled apart from the man and allowed him to press a kiss to the back of her hand.

"Until tomorrow, Princess," said the man.

"Until tomorrow," she responded, refusing to utter his name. He quirked a brow behind the mask and then turned, vanishing just as suddenly as he had earlier that night.

Even bolstered by the energy the man had fed her, Zelda was exhausted. She turned and saw Tetra and the third princess, Saria, leaning tiredly against a tree.

"Did you just do something stupid?" Saria asked with a yawn.

"No," responded Zelda. "You look exhausted."

"You look worse," Tetra responded. "You've been looking pale all night. We figured we'd wait with you and walk with you back to the pavilion."

"Thanks," Zelda said, touched by her sisters' concern.

The three set off through the campgrounds, passing through parties and revels that had broken off from the original dance and moved out on their own. It wasn't long before they made it to the royal pavilion.

"See you in the morning," said Saria, setting off towards her large green tent.

"Good night," Zelda responded. Tetra vanished into her own purple tent, and Zelda stumbled into her pink one.

She immediately set to shucking her clothes. Sheik appeared beside her, cocking his head in a birdlike fashion as she pulled on her gown.

"Are you certain that deal was wise, Princess?" he asked.

"It's just a kiss," she responded. "I don't see the harm."

The Sheikah pursed his lips, but didn't respond. Zelda stumbled into bed. Sheik sat next to her for a moment.

"Link was right," he responded quietly, a frown creasing his handsome features. "Something did drain some of your energy during the evening. I don't know when, though— I never noticed anything."

"You're worrying at shadows," murmured Zelda, turning her face into her pillow. "Just let me sleep."

The Sheikah sighed, and then transformed in a rustle of feathers into his bird form. He took his place on a perch beside Zelda's cot and settled down to guard her during the night as she rolled herself up in her blankets and slid, easily and happily, into sleep.

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><p><em>Uploaded on Sunday, November 20, 2011, at 1:30 AM Central time<em>

_Edited on Monday, November 21, 2011 at 10:50 AM Central time to correct a typo_


	2. The Spell

_A/N: Hello! _

_I'd like to give a quick shout out really quickly to CrazygurlMadness, for generously agreeing to beta for me (I know, it's a sacrifice), and to Lady Legend-Maker, for pointing out a minor typo I missed._

_I'm also going to take this opportunity to shamelessly plug CrazygurlMadness's new story, "Fighting Gravity." If you haven't read it yet, GO FORTH. READ IT. It is beautiful and a work of art and oh my goodness seriously just do it._

_Also, have any of you played Skyward Sword yet? I'm having the worst time trying to divide my time evenly between trying to finish up this fic, and trying to finish Skyward Sword. It's beautiful and wonderful and perfect and I basically just clutch my wiimote and squee the whole time I play. I'm crossing my fingers for some cannon ZeLink. That would turn 2011 from a crappy year into the GREATEST YEAR EVER._

_Without any more fuss, here's chapter two. I hope you enjoy—we're starting to get a taste of the conflict. Girdle your loins, people._

_-L_

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><p>Zelda awoke to the blackened violet of predawn light. Impa's eyes flashed, catlike and purple, in the dark shadows above Zelda's cot.<p>

"We go into the woods," Impa said, her voice a whisper.

The world was blurry. Zelda rolled from her cot, exhausted, and shivered the moment her sensitive skin touched the cool morning air. Impa helped her dress quickly in a thick tunic and gown. Zelda donned her boots, swirled her cloak around her, and followed Impa out into the darkness.

The guards saw the two women setting out side by side, but said nothing, merely inclining their heads to Impa as she walked silently past. If they found it odd that the princess was up at such early hours two mornings in a row, they would never voice any concerns. The Princess was a sorceress, and the palace Sheikah… well, it was hardly surprising that the two of them might be up to some supernatural task in the darkness.

The singing and dancing was still going on around many bonfires in the outer circle of tents. The two women slipped easily past the revelers, crossed the last of the meadow, and then slipped into the forest.

"Cast no light," said Impa as they moved into the pitch blackness. Zelda suppressed the urge to curse in an unladylike fashion as she tripped over a root. "Let Sheik loan you his eyes."

The answering bubble of magic happened before Zelda had even begun to voice the thought to her shadow. It rose from her heart, up the back of her neck, until it shivered and popped at the base of her skull. A moment of cold enveloped her, and she opened her new Sheikah eyes. The woods leapt into definition, as though two harvest moons were shining their blue light down through the canopy. Impa nodded, satisfied, and the women set off again.

Though Zelda was no Sheikah, she was light on her feet, and she followed the silent Impa nimbly through the underbrush. From the Sheikah's steady steps, Zelda assumed that she had been out already, scouting through the forest in the night while Zelda got her pitiful few hours of sleep. She'd been so tired that she hardly remembered what happened after she danced again with the handsome stranger. She remembered stumbling to her tent, shedding her gown, and falling upon her cot in exhaustion.

The forest was ever-so-slowly lightening. Zelda wondered where Impa was going; Zelda did not recognize this path through the woods, and it seemed to her as though they were going in a direction opposite of the holy spring that she had discovered the previous morning.

The cool air sliced at the exposed skin of Zelda's neck, and she shivered, pulling her cloak tighter around her. She hoped Impa didn't expect her to go into the spring again. She'd probably die of the cold.

The Sheikah stopped so suddenly that Zelda nearly slammed into her. A quick hopping step prevented the princess from overbalancing, though she wound up tangling her skirt in a blackberry bramble in the process. She hissed as the thorns bit against her leg. Impa shushed Zelda with a movement of one pale hand.

"Listen to the world," Impa said. "Tell me what you hear."

Zelda put the pain of the blackberry bush from her mind (a difficult task) and shut her eyes. She breathed deeply, and let her senses roam. She knew what it was that Impa wanted her to look for: magic. When Impa herself had trained Zelda at shadow sorcery, this had been the phrase she had used to attract Zelda's attention to something that was off, something just beyond the princess's perception.

The nighttime sounds of the forest seemed almost muted to Zelda. Little lives rustled in the woods behind her, but ahead, it was still. She fed the slightest bit of magic into her senses to strengthen them, and let them go further. The warm smell of damp soil tickled her nose, tinged with musk— it was almost dog-like. But no, there were two smells: a strangely familiar, faintly spicy scent, and something darker that smelled like subtle rot.

Dark Magic.

Zelda extended a hand into the air before her, allowing her sense of touch to move through the dark air. Up ahead, it was substantially cooler; nothingness was the closest way that Zelda could describe it. When she opened her eyes, she noticed how much darker the forest ahead seemed. It raised the hair on the back of her neck. She raised her eyes to Impa's, nodding once. There was something up ahead, something made of Dark Magic. The prospect chilled the princess; what would something like that be doing all the way out here, where there was rarely even the tiniest whisper of magic?

Impa set off again, this time towards the darkness. Zelda deftly untangled her cloak and skirt from the brambles and set off after her mentor, noting the way that the nothingness in the air was slowly thickening. Zelda called up her magic within her, holding the form of several defensive spells at the forefront of her mind. She wasn't unexperienced with Dark Magic- the royal academy of magicians occasionally allowed her to deal with minor threats- but she still would've been more confident with a team of magicians backing her up.

She and Impa both hit the barrier at the same time; the nothingness became sticky, solidified, and they were unable to move forward. Zelda looked at Impa, who was testing the nothing-air before them, frowning. The Sheikah tried to step back, but was unable to. The frown deepened.

"We've been Ensnared," she Sheikah said softly. "We've no way out but through."

Zelda gulped once, and nodded. She felt the Sheikah extend the tiniest tendril of Quest; the traditional magic of Heroes, Quest was highly addictive to Dark Creatures. It balanced the natural order of things: a strong Hero could use Quest to defeat a Dark Creature, while a strong Dark Creature could eat a weak Hero's Quest and strengthen itself.

The response was instantaneous. Impa and Zelda were sucked through the barrier into a glen full of stale nothing-air. The clearing was full of massive, sticky cobwebs, which the two women found themselves ensnared in. A monstrous spider dropped from the trees, bulbous body hairy and quivering. It had a single crusted eye above its pincers, which clicked and oozed venom as it shuddered towards them, abdomen jiggling and excreting sticky white webbing.

"Zelda, fire the cobwebs," said Impa calmly. Zelda quickly unleashed a flood of Fire magic, and the cobwebs holding the two women melted away. Impa fired a dart of powerful Quest at the spider's massive blood-golden eye; the spider recoiled, ichor rolling down between its mandibles, and let loose a horrible scream.

A number of smaller spiders streamed into the clearing. As Impa fired a second dart of Quest, Zelda concentrated on incinerating the infant Dark Creatures. They were weak, but there were many of them, and Zelda's control over Fire wasn't as adept as she would have liked; of the three Natural magics, Fire was the natural antithesis of her primary magic, Water. Add to it Zelda's strange weakness left over from the previous night- maybe she _had_ been drained- and the spiders were giving her more trouble than they ought.

Sheik thrashed in frustration from where he was wrapped around Zelda's life force; it was still too dark for her to see without his eyes, and the Sheikah could not manifest without taking the ability to see in the darkness from Zelda. So the Sheikah fed her his own magic, and Zelda began to alternate streams of flame with wide blasts of Quest. This worked very well: the wide arc stunned the spiders, allowing Zelda to torch them and move on to the next batch. A quick glance showed her that Impa was holding up just fine on her own; the Sheikah had summoned a number of creepy looking beasts that were a hybrid of Quest and Shadow magic to distract the spider, and she was firing massive bolts of Quest at the spider's eye whenever possible. Smoke curled up from splotches of venom in the dirt, and ichor and cobwebs were melted together all around the clearing.

Impa struck the great spider in the eye a last time and it shrieked again before it burst into raw Dark Magic, curling like smoke. Impa waved her hands and shouted a Word of Power, her voice raw with the strength of it. There was a massive sucking sound, followed by a loud pop; the nothingness ate into itself and vanished, leaving only a perfectly smooth, dark orb in its place. The cobwebs faded and left the trees. Air rushed into the grove. The normal forest sounds returned, and the dawn lightened just a bit.

Impa walked to the center of the clearing, towards the dark orb. She looked for a moment as though she wished to smash it— the traditional method of disposal— but instead she knelt and scooped up the orb and placed it in a shadow pocket. Panting, Zelda looked at her mentor. Beyond Impa's shoulder, two violet crescent-moons appeared in the woods, then vanished so suddenly that Zelda was sure the magical drain was making her see spots. She returned her attention to Impa.

"What was that?"

"A Gohma," replied Impa calmly. "There is something very greatly amiss in these woods."

Zelda wrapped her arms around herself, contemplating the implications of a Ghoma while she and Impa caught their breath. A Gohma was on the lower tier of Great Monsters, and were often symptomatic of a great unbalance somewhere. They more often infested holy places that had been desecrated and corrupted with Dark Magic; what would one be doing in the northern woods?

The forest had lightened enough by that point that Zelda no longer needed Sheik's vision. The cold power in her eyes sucked back down her throat, past her lungs, and wound its way around her life force. Sheik squeezed once, and she thought he would manifest; however, the Sheikah did not appear. Shrugging, Zelda pulled her cloak off, fanning her sweating body in the chilly air.

A glance through the branches upward revealed that the sun had risen; watery blue sky shone between the green leaves of the massive, twisted pine that Zelda stood beneath. She sighed, and it was at that moment that the wolf from the previous day trotted out of the bushes and sat down very calmly a number of feet away. He curled his tail around his feet, looking haughty and dignified, observing the two with his stunning blue eyes.

Zelda tensed, feeling the weak remnants of her magic rush back to her— she wouldn't be taken aback again— but Impa began to smile.

"Well, I'll be cursed," Impa said quietly. The wolf held his aloof expression for a moment more before his jaw dropped open and his tongue fell out in a wolf's grin that reminded Zelda of some of the King's goofier hunting dogs. Unable to help herself, she smiled back.

"May I approach, Your Majesty?" Impa asked. Zelda thought for a moment that she Sheikah was asking for her own permission, and was about to answer that she wasn't sure that was the best of ideas, when the wolf inclined his head in what was an unmistakable nod.

Zelda's brows rose just as Impa moved forward towards the wolf. She knelt before it, sitting calmly on her knees, hands braced before her. Zelda couldn't see the Sheikah's face from where she sat, but she could see the way the wolf's blue eyes bored into the Sheikah's.

As she had observed yesterday, there was an intelligence there that was very un-wolf.

The wolf bowed his great, dark head, and Impa raised a hand. She ran it in the air just over the wolf, and then her fingers curled into her palm. She placed her fisted hand back on her knee. "I see," she said very softly.

The wolf nodded once, and then turned his blue eyes to Zelda. She swallowed. They were hungry, intense and familiar- Zelda wasn't sure how- but she remembered seeing a similar pair of blue eyes staring her down with the same potent strength, the same burning hunger. Zelda bit her lips, hoping that she wasn't about to become wolf kibbles. The wolf rose, took a step towards her, then two, and froze. His body was so still that he looked almost as though he was made of stone. Then, without another noise, almost too fast to follow, the wolf turned and vanished into the woods.

"Impa?" Zelda asked uncertainly, clasping her hands in her gown. "Impa, what's going on?"

But the Sheikah did not respond. She bowed her head once, and then rose, graceful as a cat.

"We'd best return to camp, Majesty," the Sheikah said. "There are many things that I need to ponder, and if we do not return soon, you will be missed."

Zelda knew that was the best response she would get out of the Sheikah. Frowning to herself, she drew her cloak back around her, and then followed Impa back through the woods towards the camp.

The trip back out was shorter than Zelda remembered; she was so lost in thought that she barely noticed when they stepped out of the forest of twisted pines and into the meadow where the campground lay covered in a fine dew. There was more on the Princess's mind than the beauty of the morning, however; in the aftermath of the battle, it was all she could do to walk straight and blink. Her heart was beating a rapid tempo, faster and faster. She and Impa had fought a Gohma.

Any panic attack that might have occurred was swiftly derailed when Zelda looked up and found herself in front of her tent. Impa had already stepped inside, and Zelda followed, only to see her second sister Julietta standing in the center of the tent and twisting her hands.

"Help me with my poetry for tonight," the Golden Princess demanded.

Julietta was fondly known throughout Hyrule as the Golden Princess, or Princess of Love. Ballads had been written about her skin of of palest alabaster, hair like spun sunshine, and eyes of cornflower blue. But what the Golden Princess was most famous for was her star-crossed romance with a handsome knight named Romio. The two had grown up together— he had been groomed for the specific purpose of serving her. But when the news of the romance had leaked, the two had been separated. Romio had begged and pleaded with the King to allow him to wed the fair Princess, who had been betrothed to her cousin, a prince of Gamelon. Though the King initially refused, both Julietta and Romio had threatened to kill themselves. So the King had allotted a year and a day for Romio to accomplish a series of three impossible tasks: find him a sword fit for a Goron, bring him dust from the fabled Mirror of Twilight, receive one flaming hair from the head of the mythical Gerudo Queen. If Romio could complete the tasks assigned to him within the given time, he would be allowed to wed the Princess Julietta.

Romio had vanished, and for many months none heard of him. It was assumed that he had died, and as the time grew shorter, Julietta retreated further and further into herself. The Prince Onkled of Gamelon had journeyed to Hyrule to claim Julietta as his bride, and begun planning the wedding, for no man could accomplish such a series of tasks as Romio had been assigned in a lifetime, never mind a year and a day. But on the day before the wedding, exactly one year and one day after Romio had departed, the knight returned to the King's Castle, gleaming in golden armor, and set down at the King's feet a massive and ancient sword forged by a Goron Giant, a sack of glittering dust that turned the air around it to twilight, and a single strand of hair that was ever burning.

The King had no choice but to allow Julietta and Romio to marry. The entire Kingdom had celebrated, and many ballads had been written about the two lovers. Zelda remembered the festivities and celebrations through the eyes of a child: Julietta had been nineteen, and Zelda had been nine. Looking at the Golden Princess now, though, the glow of love was still present around her, but also there was a haze of worry and nervousness. Julietta had always been one to wear her emotions for the world to see, and she was plainly agonizing over something. It was strange, thought Zelda— the Princesses had each shared their gifts with the people of the Kingdom dozens of times before, yet this was the first time Julietta appeared to be stricken with a bout of nerves.

"Is that all that's bothering you?" Zelda asked. The words slipped out before she was fully aware of them. Julietta's bright blue eyes narrowed, her scarlet mouth turning down in a frown. Though Julietta was beautiful and kind, she was also spoiled; too often, people fell at her feet in admiration. Only Zelda, Tetra, Ashei, and Aveil didn't rush, unquestioning, to do her bidding.

"Impa, you may leave us," Julietta said to the Sheikah. Impa bowed curtly once, then walked from the tent. Zelda thought about pointing out that both Sheik and Julietta's Sheikah, Louise, could allow Impa access to all the knowledge they acquired through access to the Great Host, when Julietta did something that surprised Zelda.

"Louise," Julietta said quietly, "please leave us. Zelda, send Sheik away."

Julietta's feline Sheikah appeared and padded out the door, unquestioning. It was apparently not the first time the Sheikah had been sent away.

"Julietta…" began Zelda, uncomfortable with having Sheik away from her after the morning's events.

"Please, Zel," begged Julietta. "It's important."

"Sheik, go," whispered Zelda. "Go to Impa."

The falcon materialized and cast a baleful red stare at Zelda before swooping away.

Julietta waited until the tent flap had settled, and then turned to Zelda.

"Use one of your Words of Power," she said simply. "I don't want to be overheard."

Zelda blinked once, twice, and then a third time. "Julietta, what's going on?"

Julietta blew out a breath, exasperated. "Just do it."

Shrugging- what was the harm, except further depleting her already low magical resources?- Zelda spoke a Word. It appeared, glowing in the air for a moment, before rushing out to wrap itself around the inside of the tent. All of the noise from outside faded immediately. Zelda was reminded uncannily of the spider's clearing earlier that morning. She shivered once, feeling green.

"Romio has been uneasy," said Julietta without preamble. Zelda blinked as the Golden Princess discarded her usual ethereal elegance and plopped indecorously down onto a stool, her yellow gown poofing out around her. "Very uneasy."

"I'm…. Sorry to hear that?" managed Zelda. Her second eldest sister was always a wild card, and Zelda was never fully sure how to behave around the delicate beauty.

Julietta twisted her hands in her lap, then looked in the direction of the tent door.

"Romio made a deal," Julietta said. "When he… when Father… back then."

Zelda blinked again. "What kind of deal?"

Julietta shrugged. "He wouldn't tell me," he said. "Only that… that he wandered for months searching for the treasures that Father asked for, and he was certain he would fail, but a man of incredible power found him dying of cold and thirst. He took Romio to… to an underground castle, and told Romio that he could provide him with that which he sought, but that Romio must promise something in return."

Zelda sucked air in through her teeth. This was bad. "What did the man look like?"

"Romio never saw his face," responded Julietta. "He would try to look, but his eyes were always averted. It was like he couldn't look. But he said that the man's hair was like fire, and he smelled like… like magic. Like you did when you came into your own as a Sorceress, before you managed to fully leash your power."

This was very bad. If Romio had had any sort of training in magic- any at all- then his first lesson would have been to never, ever, _ever_ make a Pact with a Creature of Power. And it sounded like that was exactly what Romio had done.

"What did Romio promise?" Zelda asked, her voice low. She could understand now why Julietta had sent Impa from the room— the Sheikah would have been furious. Likely to the point of making things explode. (It had only happened a few times, but when it occurred, it was truly spectacular.)

"Assistance," Julietta responded quietly. "The man asked him, when the time came, that Romio would help him with a Great Harvesting."

The youngest Princess ran a hand over her face.

"Can you give me any more details than that? Can Romio?" she asked. "He made a Pact, Julietta. With a Creature of Power. Those are almost always unbreakable, but there's usually a loophole. If I'm going to find it, I'll need to know everything possible."

Julietta shook her head. "Part of the… the Pact was an oath," said Julietta. "That he would not speak, sign, write, sing, dance, draw, carve, or otherwise communicate more than ninety nine words about what happened, from the time he entered the underground castle to the time that he was delivered to Hyrule Field in golden armor. I've told you everything he was able to tell me."

Zelda sank onto her cot and buried her head in her hands.

"Do you think he could nod or shake his head?" Zelda asked Julietta. "If I asked him yes or no questions?"

Julietta shook her own head. "I tried that," she said simply. "It didn't work."

Zelda sighed and ran her hands through her hair, feeling empty without Sheik's presence wrapped around her life force. The Sheikah was distantly radiating rage and concern. She took several deep breaths, using the calming meditation tactic she'd learned in training, and looked up at her sister, whose eyes were welling with tears.

"It's fine," Zelda said before Julietta could start crying and apologizing. "We'll figure something out."

"But, Zelda," whispered Julietta, two perfect tears running down her beautiful face— even when she cried, she was perfect, though Zelda angrily— "You don't understand."

"What don't I understand?" Zelda asked, trying to tamp down her temper.

"Romio," Julietta whispered, voice choked. "He says… he says he saw the man. _Here_. And Romio is afraid that his Pact is about to be called in."

Harvesting. But what could anyone want to harvest here, now? Zelda inhaled once, then exhaled once, pushing down the confusion and anger rising within her.

"I'm a Sorceress," Zelda finally said. "I am a Sorceress, and that's got to count for something. Everything will be fine. It's in the nature of Sorcery to deal with Creatures of Power. At least Romio didn't promise to give him Ashei or one of the others."

Julietta gave a hiccuping laugh. "Ashei would carve up Romio before going anywhere with him," said the beautiful Golden Princess. The mirth faded from her eyes and she looked at Zelda. "Are… are you sure you can handle this?"

No. "Yes," Zelda said with far more surety than she felt. "I am." She moved from her cot to kneel before Julietta and take the older princess's long, pale hands in her own calloused ones. As annoyed with Julietta as Zelda was, the younger Princess had always looked up to her beautiful elder sister. When Zelda had been very, very young, she'd idolized Julietta for her frail beauty. A little of that childhood fondness and worship remained tucked deeply within Zelda's heart.

"Julietta," said Zelda quietly. "Everything will be fine. So don't cry, ok? Just come get me when Romio's Pact is called in, and I'll see what I can do. And I promise, I won't tell anyone. "

"Not even Impa?" said Julietta blearily. Zelda bit her lip. Julietta had an irrational fear of the blood-eyed Sheikah. In fact, most of the Princesses did; even Aveil and Ashei, who weren't afraid of anything, were intimidated by the Royal Sheikah.

"I can't promise that I won't tell Impa," said Zelda finally. "She's my mentor, after all. But I'll only tell her if it's absolutely necessary that she knows," finished Zelda. Julietta looked like she was about to protest, but then nodded.

"Okay," said Julietta. "That's fine."

Zelda smiled fondly at her older sister and squeezed her hands once.

"So," said Zelda as the elder princess seemed to calm herself, "Did you want me to help you out with your poetry?"

Julietta's lip trembled as she smiled at Zelda.

"Yes," said the elder Princess. "I would like that very much."

It was nearly an hour later when Zelda was driven, blinking and hungry, out into the sunshine. While Julietta recited poetry, Zelda had changed into a gown more fitting of a princess than the heavy homespun she'd worn for her journey out into the woods; her day gown was white, with a yellow tunic over it in deference of the color of the Second Day. She'd pulled her hair up into a bun and pressed a single daisy into the riotous golden strands, which were nearly the same sunshine-bright color as Julietta's.

Before departing the tent, Julietta had given Zelda one last long, worrying look. Then she'd hugged her younger sister, and had left the tent, breaking the Word of Power with her departure. Zelda felt it the instant the magic popped, like a bubble; the sudden drain of expending even that small amount of power for so long made her feel weak. She wobbled once, but then shook her head and decided to go eat. She'd been awake for several hours now with no food— surely once she got something into her stomach, she'd feel better.

So she ventured out of the tent, blinking in the bright, mid-morning light. A glaring falcon had immediately descended upon Zelda from the sky and melted into her shadow. Once inside her, Sheik sent off waves of reproach and irritation. Zelda ignored it and decided to go in search of food. It was a little after nine o'clock and many of the princesses either weren't yet awake, or were just waking up; Aveil was sitting in the tall, open tent that had been erected for the royals, blinking into a bowl of oatmeal, her red hair pulled back into a braid that looked to be one gust of wind away from unraveling.

"Morning," grunted Aveil as Zelda seated herself next to her sister. A servant immediately brought over a tray of food, and Zelda selected a platter of eggs, sausages, and a large bowl of fruit.

"Good morning," responded Zelda, smiling wearily at Aveil. Then she set into her breakfast with gusto.

"You look like hell," Aveil observed. "And are you really planning on eating all that?"

"I'm hungry," Zelda responded. She thought for a moment about telling Aveil about her depleted magical core, but then shrugged. Aveil didn't need to know that, and if she did, she'd ask a dozen pestering questions, leak the secret, and the entire camp would know that something was afoot by lunchtime. So Zelda merely satisfied herself with stuffing her face in as ladylike a fashion as possible, enjoying every last bite.

By the time she'd gone back for seconds and finished eating, Zelda felt full and sleepy, and wanted to take another nap. Looking at the sun, she determined that she had long enough for a quick catnap, and headed back to her tent. She laid down in her gown and all and slept for a half hour before rising again and setting out to do the daily prayers with her sisters.

It was mid-afternoon when Impa came and found Zelda again. The Princess had managed to come by a large bowl of cloudberries and was eating them with relish. The Sheikah raised an eyebrow, but didn't respond, and merely pulled a Green Potion from her shadow pocket, poured it into a goblet that she produced from the same place, and handed it to Zelda. The Princess wrinkled her nose and downed the foul concoction as quickly as possible, and immediately felt a bit better.

"What's afoot?" she asked Impa, popping another cloudberry into her mouth.

"I've been going over all the official census information for the Peak Province for the past two hundred years," Impa said simply. "I've written down as many numbers as I can access. Shad is collecting the relevant documents from the Royal library and will be cataloguing the information within the Great Host within the next day. There are some things I would like to go over with you."

Shad had been the Sheikah of the most recent Queen Zelda, who had been one of the greatest sorceresses ever seen in Hyrule. The Sorceress Queen had worked a neat trick of magic when she neared the end of her life. So long as Harkinian blood sat upon the throne, Shad would live on, but only if he remained confined to the palace. The Queen had recognized a need for a Sheikah within Royal walls at all times, and had managed to somehow bind the life force of the Sheikah to the magic of the wards surrounding the Palace. Nobody was fully sure how she had managed it, and Shad refused to say what it was that fed him, but the quiet Sheikah seemed to prefer to spend most of his time in the library, absorbing knowledge for the Great Host, or observing nobles for much the same reason.

Shad was nowhere near as old as Impa, and tended to keep to himself; he was painfully shy, but his job suited him. Zelda was fond of the timid Sheikah, who always stuttered and stammered the answers to her questions. She wondered if his long life in Hyrule had made him diffident, or if he had always been so withdrawn. She could hardly imagine him protecting the legendary wayward Queen from the number of near-catastrophic scrapes that history said she'd gotten herself into.

"Bless Shad," Zelda murmured, lips curving up at the mental image of the Sheikah flapping around royal library in his owl form, precious books clutched delicately in his talons. She'd seen the sight many times and always found it endearing.

"If you'd care to retire to my tent, Princess?" Impa asked. Zelda stood, still holding onto her bowl of cloudberries, and followed Impa across the royal pavilion to the small, nondescript gray tent that sat in the shade of a massive oak.

Inside, there was enough room for Zelda to sit on a low stool. Impa sank onto her cot and produced a ream of papers from a small chest. She handed them to Zelda and then spoke a Word of Power. Zelda sighed as silence fell around her like a heavy curtain for the third time that day.

"That fight took more out of you than it should have," Impa accused, red eyes on the Princess, who was thumbing through the many papers written out in Impa's neat hand.

"It's nothing, Impa," said Zelda simply. "I'm a little drained is all."

"That's not the case." Sheik appeared, kneeling at Zelda's feet. Zelda aimed a good-natured kick at his head and he nimbly dodged, unperturbed. "Something drained her last night."

"I had too much to drink," Zelda responded, well aware that the two Sheikah were only conversing aloud for her benefit. "And besides, I'm fine."

"You've been eating all day, from the looks of it," Impa responded, her eyes moving pointedly to Zelda's hand, which had paused midway through the act of raising cloudberries to her lips. Zelda scowled, and then defiantly popped the berries into her mouth.

"I'm tired and haven't slept," responded Zelda, returning her attention to the sheaf of papers. "I've got to get my energy somewhere. Now, what did you want me to look at?"

Impa pursed her lips, but didn't lecture Zelda as the princess half-expected that she would. "Look at the infant mortality rates," Impa finally said.

Zelda licked the last of the berry juice from her fingers and set about to looking over the numbers that Impa had specified. Sheik leaned against her legs, his warmth solid and comforting as Zelda read, becoming more and more confused.

"Strange," Zelda murmured.

"Quite," Impa agreed.

"What do you think it means?" Zelda asked.

"It could be that deaths are so common in those families because sicknesses are passed down through the generations," Impa said simply. "It could be living conditions, or just pure bad luck."

"But you think it's something else," Zelda said simply.

"Please direct your attention to the next page," Impa said simply. "And take note of the professions of the families who experience the highest infant mortality rates."

Frowning, Zelda did so. Several minutes later, she was disturbed.

"As you can see," Impa said simply, "bakers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, tailors… these trade jobs have the usual rates of infant mortality. But families that have hedge witches present experience astronomically high rates of loss."

"You think it's related?" Zelda asked quietly. "That… that something is happening to the children with magic?"

"Something is happening to you," Impa said simply. "And the amount of magic present in the Peak Province is unusually low."

Zelda blew out her breath and resisted the urge to run her hands through her hair and ruin her coif.

"So," she said simply. "Something is sucking at my magic and I'm becoming exhausted. You think that there's… there's something here, in the Peak Province, that's eating magic? And that's why there are no magicians, or sorcerers, or witches, or anything?"

"It bears investigation," Impa said simply. "Which is what I plan to spend tonight and tomorrow doing. I wanted to inform you of my decision before I departed."

"Of course," Zelda murmured, feeling disturbed and a little cold.

Impa turned her red eyes on Sheik. "You will make sure that the Princess is always supplied with magic," said Impa. "Whether it be force-feeding her green potions, or feeding her your own magic."

"Do you think this has anything to do with… with what I woke up in the woods yesterday?" Zelda asked. Impa looked at Zelda, blood eyes calculating.

"The odds of this being a coincidence is astronomically high," Impa said simply. "So, yes, I believe it is likely that your adventure in the woods yesterday, paired with our discovery earlier this morning, is somehow tied to what is going on here in the Peak Province."

"Why don't you think anyone noticed before?" Zelda asked.

"Likely," said Impa, "it is because there are very few visitors to this region. We are only here because the augur declared that the Goddesses wanted us to come here. It seems that there are great powers at work here, Princess."

Zelda frowned and reached for her bowl of cloudberries. She was disappointed to find it empty.

"Do you think I'll be ok?" Zelda asked simply. Impa and Sheik both studied her with identical inscrutable expressions.

"The Goddesses have a plan," said Sheik finally.

Zelda snorted. Like _that_ was comforting.

"While I am gone," said Impa coolly, "you are not, under any circumstances, to go into the woods without my protection."

"What if there's a hunting trip, or a prayer, or a pilgrimage to the spring?"

"Then I am sure you will weasel your way out of it admirably," responded Impa laconically.

Zelda huffed, but knew the Sheikah was right. If she encountered another Gohma, or something worse, she would be unable to defend herself with her depleted core.

"Fine," sighed Zelda. "I won't go into the woods."

"Good," responded Impa. "I will be back no later than dinner time tomorrow. Now, I've taken up quite enough of your time. It would be best if nobody suspected trouble— you know what happens when the Nonmagic get involved."

Zelda nodded once. Nonmagic, or people who didn't have magic, tended to exacerbate magical problems, usually in favor of Dark Magic. Princess Saria had enough magic to make a half-decent Hedgewitch, and Ashei could wield Quest when needed, but if any of the other princesses- _especially_ Aveil and Tetra- suspected something, they'd be sure to make a mess of the situation.

"I'll get back to them," Zelda said simply. "It'll be time for us to start getting ready for the dance soon anyway."

Impa nodded once, satisfied, and then turned her gaze to Sheik. The two Sheikah communicated silently for a minute before Sheik popped out of existence. Zelda felt him wrap himself firmly around her life force, and she looked down at the double shadow clinging to her cloak.

"Come and find me as soon as you're back," said Zelda softly to Impa. "And if you learn anything interesting, tell Sheik so he can pass it along to me."

"Of course," Impa said.

Without any further goodbyes, Zelda stepped out of the gray tent into the evening sunshine. She hurried across the royal pavilion to Tetra's tent. She announced herself at the flap, and entered when called out to.

"Where were you? I looked for you everywhere and couldn't find you, and you promised to get ready with me tonight," said Tetra from where she sat on a plush stool, allowing a maid to line her eyes with kohl.

"Talking to Impa," said Zelda simply. "Sorceress stuff."

"What sort of stuff?" Tetra asked.

"Balance of yin and yang magic in the soil," Zelda deadpanned. Tetra made a face and huffed out a breath.

"I know that's a crackpot answer because you've used it on me before, so I assume you don't want to talk about it and I'm not insulted at all," sniped Tetra. "I had your maids bring your dress for tonight in here, so hurry up and let's start getting beautiful together. I seem to recall you dancing very closely with a mysterious stranger last night." Tetra batted her eyes stupidly at Zelda, and the youngest princess admirably suppressed the urge to toss a havoc spell on Tetra's elaborate coif.

"I know you just want me in here so I can tell you that you look nice for Lord Freedle," Zelda teased, then laughed as she dodged a hairbrush thrown her way by her irate sister. Tetra huffed, and Zelda grinned, and let the maids set about to stripping her and dressing her up for that night's dance.

—

Julietta's poetry recitation was, unsurprisingly, perfect. If Zelda hadn't known about Julietta's emotional turmoil firsthand, she would never have noticed the small tells: the way her eyes flickered uncomfortably to the youngest princess when she talked about "sacrifice of my dearest heart," or the way Julietta licked her lips and averted her eyes when she was met with thunderous applause at the end of the evening.

The dance that night was much the same as the one the night before, except that everyone was garbed in yellow, the color of the Second Night. Zelda's buttery yellow dress slid like satin around her legs as she danced and twirled; though she was still exhausted, she felt carefree. She felt good. Whenever she began to feel tired, Sheik pushed a little bit of magic into her body and gave her that extra boost. It also didn't hurt that she'd had a few discrete goblets of green potion, washed down with more than a few goblets of wine.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself this evening," said Daphnes as he sidled up to her, wrapping an arm around his tipsy sister.

"I always enjoy myself, Daph," Zelda said to her brother, looking up at him with adoring eyes. Daph was in his early thirties, and shared the same wild red hair as their father, and as Aveil. He was a little pudgy, but had a strong, square jaw, and a smile like sunshine when it wasn't hidden behind a mask. He was a good man, and would be a good king, and was a wonderful brother to Zelda and all of the princesses. Daphnes's wife, Princess Felicia, was a perfect match for him: caring, kind, and very occasionally mischievous, the auburn-haired beauty was a nubile princess from the tiny island nation of Koholint. The couple had a son named Tarin, an adorable little boy that shared his mother's beautiful hair and his father's generous temperament.

"Will my baby sister dance with me, then?" teased Daphnes, extending his arms as a lively jig struck up.

"Of course," Zelda responded with a grin. Daphnes pulled her out into the dance clearing and the two whirled around, grinning and laughing. Midway through the dance, Daphnes managed to trade her off to Tarin and dance with his wife, so Zelda cavorted around the clearing with the ten-year old boy, who was less than a head shorter than she was.

"You're growing fast," Zelda puffed to Tarin as they finally exited the dance floor, laughing. Tarin wore a keaton mask that perfectly suited his personality.

"You're just shrinking," Tarin responded. Amused, Zelda ruffled her nephew's hair.

"You're dancing with me next, right?" Tetra asked, sidling up to Tarin and looping an arm around his shoulders.

Tarin gave an impressive, long-suffering sigh. "I suppose," he groaned.

"Hey!" said Tetra, and immediately she jumped upon her nephew, tickling him for all she was worth. Tarin began to laugh and squeal, "no, no, get off!" which naturally only worsened the tickling. Zelda was laughing so hard she could barely breathe when she felt a presence next to her. She turned and saw a head of handsome red hair.

"Chancellor Makivelo," she said, surprised. "Hello."

"I hope I'm not interrupting?" he said, a self-deprecating smile in his eyes. "I've come to beg a dance."

"Of course," said Zelda, though she was still pleasantly out of breath from the jig and the laughter. She allowed the young Chancellor to lead her out into the clearing for a lively rondo, and quickly found herself even more out of breath from the combination of dancing and singing. When the dance was over, she was more than happy to stagger back off the floor and to the royal table, where she stole a few bites of food from Lulu' plate.

"I always miss carrots," Lulu was telling Julietta, waving her goblet with enthusiasm. Her eyes were glazed behind her Zora mask. "There are no carrots in Zora's domain."

Zelda giggled, and reached for her own glass of wine. Before she could close her fingers around it, however, Aveil ran up, grabbed Zelda, and dragged her back onto the dance floor for a bourrée. After the bourée, Zelda was swept up by one of her cousins, then another Lord, and a Baron, and then Romio, who smiled sheepishly at Zelda but said nothing of Julietta's visit to her earlier that morning.

She'd been dancing for hours and she was exhausted. No matter how much magic Sheik fed her (or how much green potion and wine she drank, for that matter), Zelda was ready to go to bed. A wide hand extended out to her and she was about to tell the man- even if it was the King- that she needed a rest when she heard a rumbling voice.

"Trade a dance for a question, Princess?"

Zelda's eyes jerked up and she saw the man in the wolf mask- she would _not_ call him by his name- watching her closely with his bright blue eyes.

"I'm exhausted," she said bluntly.

"Then it's very good for you that this is a minuet," he said simply. Zelda thought about refusing him, but then remembered the way he'd fed his magic into hers the previous night and sighed to herself. She could use the boost, loathe as she was to ask for it.

"Very well," she replied She took his warm hand and felt the instant flood of electric power up her arm. She looked up at his face again, and saw the surprise in his eyes.

"I didn't realize you were so tired, Princess," he said finally. "Perhaps you should rest."

"You wanted your dance, you'll get your dance," she responded. "It won't kill me."

They stood there for a moment longer, merely holding hands, before the man bowed his head.

"Very well," he said simply. "Though in the future, if you need magical assistance from me, you need merely to ask for it."

"I'm sure it would come at a price," she said, her voice snapping more curtly than she intended it to. The man looked taken aback, and then clearly grinned underneath his mask, blue eyes crinkling.

"Ah, but it wouldn't be such a terrible price to pay," he said simply, tightening his grip on her hand. She could feel the burning of his skin even through both their gloves, and she gulped. The heated promise in his voice had blood rushing to Zelda's cheeks, and she was very glad for the presence of her mask.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" she muttered, more to herself than to him. He heard her, though, because a wolfish voice came from near her ear.

"Now, now, Princess, are you sure you want to use your one question on that?"

"I will be choosing a different question, thank you," she said stiffly. The man laughed in delight and spun her.

"Princess, you're a delightful creature," he said, voice warm with admiration. "I can see why your sisters are all so fond of you."

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," responded Zelda, following his easy lead as he guided her around the dance floor.

"They've all been watching you very closely this evening," the man said, his voice pitched low. "Though I take it you hadn't noticed."

"You're imagining things," Zelda said primly. The man laughed again and spun Zelda once. He caught her and brought her a bit closer to his body than was strictly necessary, but he swiftly maneuvered her back out to proper position— it was so quick that Zelda wasn't even sure it had happened, except that her shoulder still tingled from where it had brushed against him.

"I hope your day was satisfactory," the man murmured.

"Quite," Zelda responded. "I hope that yours was the same."

"My day went very well, thank you," said the man. "I had some wonderful rabbit's meat for lunch, and took a long nap in the sunlight this afternoon."

Zelda laughed. "You sound like one of the King's hounds," she said. "Those dogs spend half their lives sprawled in a puddle of sunlight."

"I'm so glad that you think that I have the dignity of a dog," growled the man. Zelda looked to his face in shock, but then saw the laughter in his eyes and smiled under her mask.

"At least you don't drool everywhere," Zelda teased easily. The man spun her quickly and dropped her into a dip, catching her as she yelped in surprise.

"I," said the man calmly, "am not a dog."

Then he set her on her feet and they resumed dancing as though nothing had just happened.

"You're horrible," she said simply, surprised at how easily she fell into bantering with this man.

"Not even hardly," responded the man. "I'm Link."

"I won't call you by your given name," Zelda said warningly. "It's too familiar."

"Is that so?" asked the man, turning his bright eyes on Zelda. She suddenly felt about ten degrees hotter. She swallowed thickly and licked her lips.

"Why won't you tell me your full name?" she asked quietly.

"Is that your question?" asked the man. Zelda considered for a moment, and then nodded.

"It's not that I won't tell you my full name," the man said simply. "It's that I can't."

"Why not?" Zelda asked, curious. The dance ended.

"That's a question for another dance," said the man as he guided her to the edge of the dance floor. "And this evening has nearly ended. Would you care to guess my name?"

"Give me a hint," said Zelda, feeling like pushing her luck. The man looked at her, raised a brow behind his mask, and then seemed to come to a decision.

"You've heard it before, just as you've met me before," he said simply. "Though neither, I think, in a place where you expected it."

Zelda thought about the family that was most prone to doing unexpected things and grinned behind her mask.

"You're a Dotour," she said, smug certainty lacing her voice.

"You've guessed incorrectly," said the man simply. He took her hand in his own and raised it to the small muzzle on his mask. Zelda imagined that she could almost feel the touch of his lips on her skin. Electricity shot from his hand into hers. "Until tomorrow night, Princess."

And, just as suddenly as the previous night, he turned and was gone. Annoyed, Zelda refrained from stomping her feet, and instead thundered over to the royal table, where Aveil and Ashei sat watching her.

"He likes you" Aveil said simply. "What's his name?"

"Shut up," Zelda snarled, pouring a vial of green potion into a goblet.

"Why've you been throwing back green potion all night?" Ashei asked.

"There's an imbalance of yin and yang in the soil here," Zelda responded. Ashei raised a brow at her youngest sister, but didn't respond, and Zelda felt momentarily stupid— Ashei could access Quest. Ashei knew that that was the standard crackpot answer given by magic users who didn't want to explain why something was going on. Grumbling to herself, Zelda passed the goblet of green potion over to Ashei.

"Drink up and don't ask stupid questions," Zelda said simply. "I'll explain everything later, once we're back home."

Ashei pushed up her mask, drank a few sips of the green potion, and grimaced. She put her mask back down and passed the goblet back to Zelda, who tossed down the remaining contents with a distinct lack of relish.

"Disgusting," said Zelda simply.

"Agreed," said Ashei, bobbing her head once in a nod.

"You're both insane," Aveil observed calmly, tweaking the fabric of her canary yellow dress. "And I, for one, will be glad to get out of this hideous color. Zelda, will you be coming to any other dances tonight?"

"Not tonight," said Zelda, thinking longingly of her cot. "Impa got me up before dawn to go to sorceress stuff."

"Like what?" asked Aveil, curious. Zelda never spoke about sorceress stuff to her sisters.

"I made some trees grow out of more trees, and then I ungrew them," said Zelda simply. "And then I transformed some rocks into frogs."

"By Din, you're dull," huffed Aveil. Ashei was twirling a long strand of inky hair and studying Zelda from between her thick black lashes with the violet eyes they had both inherited from their mother.

"I'm tired too," said Ashei suddenly. "Zelda, let me walk you back, yeah?"

"That," said Zelda, standing up from her stool and wobbling, "would be wonderful."

The two princesses set off through the campgrounds as the last song came to a close. As they reached the royal pavilion, Ashei turned to her younger sister.

"I understand magic, yeah?" said the elder Princess. "And I understand that sometimes you can't talk about things that are going on. And I know you're not as close to me as you are to Tetra or even Aveil. But if you need me, or if you need my sword, I'm here for you, yeah?"

Zelda grinned up at her big sister, exhaustion and gratitude making her sway on her feet.

"Thanks," said Zelda, wrapping her arms around Ashei's yellow-clad waist. For someone who spent so much time in maille, Ashei could pull off a dress surprisingly well, even if yellow did look just as ridiculous on her as it did with Aveil's shock of red hair.

"Get some good sleep," said Ashei evenly. "Sleep in as late as you want. I'll tell the others not to bother you. And get me if you need me, yeah?"

"Yeah," responded Zelda. Then, under the watchful eyes of her sister, a legendary shield maiden and the fourth princess of Hyrule, Zelda slipped into her tent, shucked her dress, and fell into bed before Sheik could even take the form of a guardian falcon above her bed.

* * *

><p><em>Uploaded on Saturday, November 26, 2011, at 5:50 PM Central time<em>


	3. The Disappearance

_Howdy y'all,_

_I'm sorry it has been such a long wait between chapters. Work has been really stressful lately—my company isn't doing so well—and I had a close family member wind up in the hospital for several days a few weeks ago. We actually had to call EMS as I was working on a particularly important scene in one of the later chapters, which has led to a bit of a block for me. So the story is going to be coming along much slower than I originally thought, though I'll do what I can to publish regularly._

_I advise that you check my blog for news, updates, and sneak previews. I try to update it every week or so, or, barring that, whenever something happens that directly affects this story. I __**might**__ becoming back through at some point later in the story to tweak bits of this chapter—if this happens, I will mention it in the A/Ns of other chapters, and I'll have direct pointers to the changes on my blog._

_Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry it's not very eventful. I promise that lots of horrible things are going to start happening to everyone very, very soon._

_Cheers!_

_-L_

_In the dream, Impa was standing before her. They were in a stone cabin. The dirt floor was strewn with rushes, and the wooden walls of the cabin were painted a soft violet. Zelda was sitting on a tall stool._

"_Perhaps this is a mistake," Zelda murmured. Her voice was different— soft. Gentle. But it had an undertone of depth and power and sadness. Her white-gloved hands were folded in her lap. She was refraining from twisting the pendant around her neck between her palms, but only just._

"_My Queen?"_

"_There is something about him, Impa, that I mistrust." She wanted to stand and pace, but did not. Years of training held her in place, looking serene despite her inner turmoil. "He is concealing something from me by feeding me half-truths."_

"_That is the way of his kind." Impa blinked her red eyes owlishly. "Creatures of Power are remarkably good at twisting the truth to suit their own purposes."_

"_Then what is is that he's hiding?" she asked. "He says he will defeat the monster in return for a human form and a single drop of blood, yet this price seems too low. There is something else he wants."_

_She went quiet, puzzling over it in her head. It just didn't make sense. Though a human form would be a difficult thing for her to bestow, it would still be an unequal trade. There was something she was missing._

"_I'll take his bargain," Zelda said finally. "But I believe he misleads us. He is planning something."_

_We have no option?" Impa asked, red eyes analytical and unblinking._

"_None," Zelda responded. "None so simple as this."_

Zelda awoke, groggy, to sunny morning light streaming in through the open flap of her tent. She blinked blearily several times, only to see Saria standing in the doorway.

"Huh?" grunted Zelda, shifting until she was in a sitting position. Her head felt muzzy and her tongue felt as though it was made of cotton.

"You feel it too?" Saria asked, making her way forward and seating herself on the plush stool next to Zelda's bed. "I thought I was coming down with something, but Ashei looked paler than normal, and I remembered how much green potion you drank last night."

Zelda exhaled and let her head fall back onto her pillow. She glanced over at Saria, who was wearing a cloak over her dressing gown, and then scooted over in her cot until there was room for her sister.

Saria gratefully crawled in, and Zelda rested her head on her big sister's shoulder. She inhaled the comforting smell of Saria: sweet and herbal, like rosemary and lavender and lemongrass and soil. The most even-tempered of all the sisters, the third princess was kind, gentle, and loving. She was a low-level hedgewitch, and had gained most of her skills from a childhood spent nursing the physical traumas of her many siblings. She loved the outdoors in a way that none of the other princesses did; her long chestnut locks were more often than not tangled with leaves and strands of rosemary, and her eyes were the same bright green of the Ordon woods. The sisters liked to joke that Saria had been a wood nymph in a past life, or some such similar creature.

"There's something strange going on here," Saria said simply, running her long, faintly-calloused fingers through Zelda's tangled locks. "Something's happening to my magic, and Ashei's, and yours. And I'm betting that the people are suffering, too, though they probably think it's just hangovers."

"Mm," murmured Zelda.

"But you and Impa know what's going on, don't you?"

"No," Zelda responded. "But we're working on it."

"I know you went into the woods together yesterday morning," Saria said softly. "Did you find anything there?"

"Unfortunately," said Zelda, keeping her eyes firmly shut and trying to erase the sudden memory of the rearing Gohma. She'd had nightmares about it all night— she remembered that now. Nightmares about it, and something else…

"Can you tell me about it?"

Zelda sighed, then pushed herself up on an elbow to look at her sister.

"I'll tell you as soon as I know more," Zelda said simply. "Right now, I don't know enough to say anything for sure. Impa has gone to check on some things. We should know more when she gets back."

"And what should we do in the meantime?" Saria asked, shivering a little. "I feel weird. Weak, like I felt after I healed Tetra's ankle when she sprained it."

Zelda's lips quirked up at the memory. Daring her older sister climb the tallest tree in the royal gardens had been one of her stupider moments.

"Ashei was training this morning, and she wasn't using any Quest like she normally does," continued Saria. "And you've got a massive magical core… I can't even imagine how you're feeling."

"Drink lots of green potions," said Zelda simply. "And have Mido feed you a little of his magic if you start to get too weak." Mido was Saria's Sheikah, who took the form of a fox.

"But how are you doing?" asked Saria, nudging Zelda, green eyes wide with concern. "Really. How are you?"

Magical cores were tied directly to life force. The larger the core, the more direct the drain on the life force. Zelda looked at her sister, and thought about talking about how she ached all over, or was feeling a little woozy, or that she was afraid of what she was probably going to have to do— what it seemed the Goddesses wanted her to do. But instead, she settled with a smile that she hoped didn't look too much like a grimace.

"I'm fine," said Zelda, injecting as much honesty into her voice as possible. "I'll be fine. Sleeping for so long helped a lot." And it had. Just not enough. "Don't worry about me, ok? Focus on taking care of yourself."

Saria looked as though she was going to argue, but instead nodded, still frowning a little.

"I'm sorry I woke you," Saria said. "You should go back to sleep if you're that tired."

"No, it's fine," said Zelda around a massive yawn. Saria smirked as she detangled herself from Zelda and crouched beside the cot.

"You're lying," Saria said simply. She rested a hand on Zelda's forehead. Gentle magic seeped through. "Sleep," whispered Saria.

Zelda wanted to fight it, to tell Saria to conserve her magic, but her eyelids were growing heavier, and her limbs felt boneless. A protest still on her lips, Zelda slid back into the world of dreams.

She woke again suddenly in the late morning. Golden light trickled through the pink walls of the tent, and Zelda rolled off her cot, landing with an undignified whump on the fur rug. A shadow falcon blinked down at her with red eyes as she laid on the floor, trying to catch her breath.

"Shut up," Zelda muttered to the Sheikah, who was perched above her cot. She wondered where he'd been earlier that morning; shrugging it off, she sat up, and realized that she felt worlds better than she had earlier. Cheered, Zelda sat up, lifted the bell beside her bed, and rang for her maids to come help her dress for the day.

Half an hour later, Zelda's tow-colored hair had been braided into a coronet and knot, peppered with flowers, and she'd dressed for the day in a brown dress and green tunic. Feet firmly shod in buttery leather boots, Zelda stepped out of her tent into the late morning sunlight and made her way over to the dining tent. Lulu was the only other Princess there, blinking blearily and clutching her head.

"Good morning, Lu," Zelda said to her eldest sister, seating herself across from Lulu so that she'd shade the woman's eyes from the sun. Grateful (but hazy) indigo orbs met violet ones, and Lulu cracked a pained smile.

"The wine," croaked Lulu. "Last night. Ugh. Goddesses, I'm too old for this."

"You seemed very enthusiastic about carrots," Zelda said lightly, accepting several fluffy biscuits from an attendant. She began to smear the biscuits liberally with honey butter, eagerly anticipating her breakfast.

"There aren't any carrots in Zora's domain," grumbled Lulu, sinking her fork into a sausage. "I got a little overexcited."

"Not homesick?" Zelda asked her sister, taking a bite of her biscuit.

Lulu's eyes softened. "Somewhat," admitted the first princess. "I miss my family."

Lulu had gone into her arranged marriage willingly, though she didn't know her groom, Mikau, until a few weeks before the wedding. Nevertheless, it was a good match; the two were very happy together, and if the blush on Lulu's face was anything to gauge by when the other princesses began teasing her, she was more than a little enamored of her husband.

"I was disappointed the children couldn't come," Zelda offered. "I think Tarin was too, especially since Honey and Maple couldn't make it either." Maple and Honey were Julietta and Romio's twin daughters. The girls were only six years old, and had been judged too young to come along on the _Carrus Din_. They'd stayed with their grandmother, a very famous witch named Syrup; given Maple's budding powers, Zelda was glad the child wasn't along. The girl had a lot of raw magic, and the drain would have affected her acutely.

"We'll all be at the _Carrus Nayru_," Lulu said quietly. "The children can't be away from water too long."

Zelda made a sympathetic noise. She couldn't imagine what it must be like for Lulu to be raising half-Zora children; when they were older, they would each permanently take either the form of Hylians, or of Zoras. As they were growing, though, they retained facets of both forms; scales and fins, sharp teeth, pointed ears, and hair. Zelda remembered when Lulu went into labor with her eldest son, Evan— she'd been in Zora's domain visiting her elder sister. Lulu had wound up laying an egg, and she'd freaked.

"What's so funny?" Lulu asked, narrowing her eyes at Zelda, who was smirking into a goblet of orange juice.

"Remembering when you had Evan," Zelda said simply. Lulu looked for a moment as though she was going to lecture Zelda, but then she smiled and laughed once lightly.

"I could have killed Mikau for not warning me properly," said Lulu.

At the time, Mikau had cringed from his wife, saying over and over again that he and the other Zoras _hadn't known_ that Lulu wasn't expecting to lay eggs. It had been a memorable fight— nearly as memorable as how loudly Lulu had shrieked at Aveil when she made a joke about making omelets afterwards.

"Are you feeling any better?" Zelda asked Lulu, whose color seemed to be slightly less pasty white than before.

"Slightly," Lulu responded. "I wish I could find Saria for a pick-me-up."

Zelda studied Lulu from across the table and then reached across the space between them. She pressed two fingers lightly to Lulu's forehead and let the magic of a mild healing spell do its work.

She was pleased when exhaustion didn't strike her— only a mild tiredness that Zelda could easily get over with a little potion or some more food.

"You're a Goddess-send," Lulu said simply, eyes bright and cheeks full of color. "I keep forgetting that you know healing magic."

"It comes with the territory of being a sorceress, you know," Zelda responded drily, finishing the last of her biscuits with gusto.

"What else can you do?" Lulu asked, curious.

Lulu had lived in Zora's domain for nearly the full duration of Zelda's magical training. Of all her sisters, Zelda was easily least close to Lulu— she'd been married at the age of eighteen. Zelda had been six years old, and a flower girl, and only just learning to not make things explode when she had temper tantrums.

"Lots of things," Zelda said with a shrug. "I can talk to spirits, and see different kinds of magic, and do lots of things that you would find incredibly boring."

"Like what?"

"Like mapping the stars to gauge when the ideal time for working a large spell is," said Zelda drily. "It sounds exciting, but is actually quite dull, and involves an inordinate number of maps and arithmetic. The Academy likes to contemplate the nature of magic and the meaning of life and all that, but I'm not as good at the philosophy," Zelda added with a shrug. "Magicians take care of the wisdom thing. Sorcerers and Sorceresses are a little more action-oriented."

"So could you light this whole campgrounds on fire at once?" Lulu asked.

"Probably," Zelda responded. "But I'm not so good with Fire. I could flood it pretty easily, or cause a major earthquake or a storm, but it would take a lot of power, and I would probably be laid up for quite a while afterwards."

Lulu studied Zelda for a moment, pondering something. She seemed to reach a conclusion because she grinned.

"I've had it explained to me before, but I was never really interested in magic while I lived at the palace, and when I had my intensive lessons on magical bureaucracy I was getting ready for the wedding, so I didn't really pay attention… and the Zoras have their own system, anyway. So what's the difference between a hedgewitch, a witch, a magician, and a sorceress?"

Zelda accepted a grapefruit from a waiter and dug in, taking a few moments to chew and collect her thoughts on how to explain, in the simplest way possible, the differences. She swallowed and set down her spoon.

"Hedgewitches and hedgewizards have the least amount of power, and are therefore most commonly found. Every family or village has at least one hedgewitch. They use lots of herbs, amulets, wands, and other conduits to conduct their power. They're also best suited for healing, and tend to learn on the job. Saria had a little formal magical training, but for the most part she spent a lot of time following another hedgewitch around and learning from her.

"Witches and wizards are the next step up," continued Zelda. "They tend to need only something like a wand to channel their power, and only occasionally. Witches usually learn from other witches or wizards. They're particularly good for setting up minor enchantments, making amulets and things, and brewing potions.

"Magicians are much more powerful than witches or hedgewitches. Most magicians carry staves, because at that level of power, they can store extra magic there. Because they're powerful, magicians tend to cling to order, and have a very rigid hierarchy to make sure that nothing goes awry. Magicians in Hyrule make sure that the natural balance of the world is preserved, and that order is maintained."

"What does that mean?" Lulu asked. "The natural balance of the world?"

"All magicians belong to the Academy," explained Zelda. "And they monitor… the flow of power, if you will. If one area of the kingdom has too much or too little power flowing in and out, they'll send someone to investigate and set things to rights… think of it like a big, circular river that takes water to all parts of the kingdom. If the flow is stronger than it should be in some places, and weaker than it should be in others, magicians figure out why and fix it. Magicians also tend to contemplate the 'whys' and 'hows' of magic. I suppose that's what happens when you're the watchdog." Zelda shrugged, and spooned another bit of grapefruit into her mouth.

"And sorceresses?"

"Rarest, and most powerful," Zelda said simply. "As a sorceress, I don't need a wand, or any other trinkets to control my power. There are maybe a dozen other sorcerers and sorceresses in the Kingdom."

"And what do sorcerers and sorceresses do?"

Zelda shrugged again. "Whatever they want. Usually battle big monsters, or the like."

"What do you do?"

That was a good question. What did Zelda do? "Not much," the seventh princess admitted. "Since I'm a royal, they don't let me near the really dangerous stuff. For the most part, I set up big, big enchantments, like altering the weather in certain provinces when necessary, or warding, or that sort of thing."

"You do that regularly?" Lulu asked, eyes wide.

"Every once in a while," responded Zelda. "But, to put it in perspective: a hedgewitch can heal someone every day. A witch could make someone sick every week. A magician could lay a curse on someone's family every month or so. A sorceress could make someone's village slide into an enormous chasm in the earth perhaps once a season."

Lulu shivered. "That's a lot of power."

"That's what the Academy is for," Zelda responded. "Making sure that the power isn't ever abused."

"And is it?" Lulu asked.

Zelda thought about the Gohma, and about whatever it was that was draining the magic from the area— and doing it in such a way that the Academy hadn't caught on.

"Sometimes," Zelda responded. "Sometimes, people go down the wrong path, and tap into bad spells— Dark Magic. The kind of magic that started the Imprisoning War. But the Academy is good about finding people who have gone Dark, and then someone- usually a high level sorcerer or sorceress- strips that person of all his or her power with the help of a team of Magicians."

"So _you_ could take someone's power?" Lulu asked, wide eyed.

"Only if they were weaker than me, and I had about twenty Magicians at my back making sure I didn't explode or accidentally conjure a demon or something."

Lulu's indigo eyes were the size of saucers. Zelda wondered if she'd said too much. First Saria barging into her tent at the crack of dawn, and now Lulu's curiosity; would she alarm all of her sisters by the time the day was over?

"And anyway, I'm particularly talented with Light magic," Zelda added consolingly. "So someone who had gotten into Dark Magic…. I could just purify him or her, which is much less risky. Don't worry about it, though, Lu," said Zelda. "It sounds big and scary, but it's not. Magic wielders in Hyrule are very well monitored. Nothing bad has happened in ages." She couldn't stop her mind from returning to the woods, but resolutely, Zelda pushed those thoughts away. She and Impa were going to fix- _discreetly_- whatever was wrong in the Snow Spine, and nobody would be the wiser.

Ha.

"If you say I don't need to worry about it, then I won't," Lulu said with a shaky laugh. "After all, nobody would know better than you, right?"

Zelda saw a massive, hairy spider in her mind, pincers clicking, eye bleeding ichor, venom dripping down to scorch the ground beneath it. "Right," Zelda agreed.

—

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Zelda was surprised when evening rolled around and she wasn't in the least tired— likely because she'd slept until nearly eleven, and always had a green potion (sans wine) handy during the day. Dinner was the same jolly affair as usual, with music and merriment and no small amount of mayhem. Zelda found herself sitting next to young Tarin, and she was regaled with stories of his great adventures from that morning. He'd gone to see the jousting tournament, which Zelda had foregone: it was a little too close to the treeline for her comfort. Instead, she'd spent the afternoon in prayer with her mother.

The Queen of Hyrule was a calm, quiet woman. When she had wed the King, after the death of his first wife (the mother of Daphnes, Lulu, Julietta, and Saria), she had apparently been lively and bright, but motherhood had calmed her some. She had the same inky black hair as Ashei, as well as the violet eyes that both Zelda and Ashei shared. She had flawless, pale skin, a long, round face, and the same lush lips that both Tetra and Aveil had inherited. She was lithe and willowy, and looked nearly childlike next to the immense height and girth of the King.

Zelda didn't often spend time with her mother. When she was very young, her mother had been busy tending to the twins and to Tetra; once Zelda's magical temper asserted itself, Zelda was immediately put in the care of Impa, who could place a damper on Zelda's baby magic and teach her to control her abilities. Once Zelda had understood the fundamentals of magic, her study had become incredibly rigorous; all of her princess studies, paired with her sorceress studies, had made for a childhood and adolescence that didn't contain much free time. It was only recently, after Zelda had been granted Accolades by the Academy, that she had begun to get to know her mother.

The Queen was a soft-spoken, devout woman, though sparks of her legendary strong will still asserted themselves from time to time. For the most part, she was prim, demure, and gentle; Zelda wondered if she'd mellow out and be like her mother in thirty years.

After dinner, all the hundreds- if not thousands- of people in the camp settled themselves down on the great hillside to watch Saria play the flute. The third Princess looked stunning in a long gown of green, and she perched on a stool that had been carved to look like a tree stump. She played a folk song from each province, moving many members of her audience alternately to either laughter or tears. When Saria's quarter-hour was up, she received thunderous applause, and swept a deep curtsey, cheeks pink with pleasure.

As Zelda stood underneath a tree clutching a goblet of wine, she was pleased to note that she'd done a minimal amount of looking around for a well-built stranger in a wolf mask. She was giving herself a mental pat on the back for only looking for him three times in five minutes when the object of her curiosity appeared in front of her. He didn't even speak, merely extended his hand to her. Zelda took it with a surety that she'd have to examine later, handed her goblet off to a passing servant, and allowed him to lead her out onto the dance floor.

"You're here earlier tonight," she said simply.

"You have much more energy today," he responded. "I'm glad. Though I suppose battling a Gohma will drain anyone's resources."

Zelda stiffened in his arms. Even her mask couldn't hide her horrified reaction.

"How do you know?" she hissed.

The man spun her once.

"Is that your question for this dance?" he asked.

Zelda nodded.

"I was there," he responded, his warm hand landing on her waist as he guided her through the movements. "Surely you can't think that you're the only one who ventures into the woods?"

"You can't tell anyone," Zelda muttered shakily. She hadn't even thought that anyone else had been there— that anyone else had seen, or known. How hadn't she sensed his presence? "Promise me."

"Your secret is safe with me, Princess."

And just like that, Zelda's apprehensions melted (mostly) away. That was another thing she would have to examine later, when she laid alone in her cot and didn't have hypnotizing eyes staring her down, or strong arms guiding her surely across a dance floor made of dirt.

"I was impressed, though," the man continued, bringing Zelda slightly closer as they twirled. "For someone with depleted magical resources, you fought admirably."

"I thought the Gohma's lair was encased in an impermeable ward," murmured Zelda, careful not to phrase it as a question. The man's eyes lit up with amusement, but he didn't call her out.

"It normally takes more than two magic wielders to defeat a Dark Creature, even a lesser one," said the man. "You must have fought well."

Zelda tried not to flush with the praise. She wasn't some novice magician who had just completed her first enchantment; she was a sorceress. A good one. A force to be reckoned with.

"Thank you," she managed. It was as though the man saw through her, straight through her struggles, and was both amused and proud; he dipped her once, and she could see his smile from behind his mask. She was struck with a sudden burning curiosity to see what lay below it.

"Now now, Princess," said the man, as though he'd sensed the twitch in her fingers or read the curiosity in her eyes. "Tradition states that masks remain on until the end of the seventh night."

Zelda scowled behind her mask, but knew he was right; as a princess, Zelda couldn't break tradition. Not only was the _Carrus Din_ a celebration of life, it was also one of passion; the notion was that, when masked, strong emotions- powerful emotions, like love and desire- were more easily revealed. Mystery fed romance, and the seventh night held the great unmasking; it was no coincidence that many children were born nine months later.

"Your game is incredibly irritating," Zelda said, though she was beginning to worry that she was falling prey to the ploy of the _Carrus Din_. She wondered if this masked man was hideous. She wondered why she cared. She was a Princess of Hyrule, and he was… well, he was a stranger.

"But you're enjoying it," said the man, and Din take him if he wasn't right about it.

"Whether or not I'm enjoying it isn't the point," said Zelda, hardly noticing that the dance had ended. She dropped a curtsy as the man bowed, and then allowed him to lead her from the dance floor. "It's… it's an enormous breach of manners. Not that I'm going to complain to anyone, but it goes against station, and that just isn't done."

"Who says your rank is higher than mine?" asked the man in amusement. Zelda gaped at him.

"I… that doesn't… what?" she managed. She tried again, but still couldn't come up with anything more eloquent than another, "What?"

"I'll find you for another dance later," growled the man, his voice full of dark promise. "Perhaps you'll have formulated a better question by then."

He didn't vanish this time, but instead walked away into the darkness.

Romio sidled up to Zelda, frowning.

"Do I need to hurt him?"

Romio was protective of all the princesses, but most especially Tetra and Zelda; he'd been in the family for years, and had become a kind of second big brother to the two.

"It might be a good idea," Zelda agreed.

"Who is he?" Romio asked.

"I'd like to know that myself," chimed in Tetra, appearing on Zelda's other side with a goblet of wine in hand.

"An arrogant pig," said Zelda, taking Tetra's goblet of wine, slipping it under her mask, and tipping back the drink.

"He gets beneath your skin, does he?" Tetra asked, even as Romio took the empty goblet with a frown. "Funny. I haven't seen anyone get beneath your skin before. Not even Father, or Impa. Not even Aveil, and that's saying something."

Zelda forced herself to take a calming breath and clear her mind.

"Well, he's certainly unlike anyone I've encountered before," she managed. Tetra's quick grin was visible in her eyes.

"Would Father approve of him?" Tetra asked. Zelda snorted. Romio murmured an excuse as Julietta drunkenly tipped over several feet away.

"Tet, I barely know him," Zelda responded. "I've only just met him."

"That doesn't make a difference," Tetra sang lightly, though Zelda could tell from the sudden, sad tone of her voice that she was thinking about the man she could never have, who was waiting patiently for her, minding her skiff on the shores of Lake Hylia.

"Come and dance with me," Zelda said suddenly, grabbing her elder sister's hands. "It's a reel, nobody will care if we partner with each other."

"Zelda," laughed Tetra, though she followed the younger girl out onto the packed dance floor. The two whirled around each other, laughing as they traded hands and moved through the dance. By the end of it, Tetra was thoroughly distracted, giggling in delight and out of breath. The two sisters were quickly swept into a quadrille by two young men, Malo and Talo, the sons of a well-to-do merchant. Malo, the younger, was following in his father's footsteps; Talo, the hotheaded elder brother, was one of Daphnes's personal guards.

After the quadrille, Zelda was swept up by Lord Makivelo, then by her brother, and then- surprisingly- by the King himself for a stately sarabande.

Zelda was never fully sure what to say to her father. He was even more of a stranger to her than her mother was; he was a good ruler, if harsh, and he expected his children to lead by example, as he did.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself, daughter," the King said as he took Zelda's hand in his to begin the sarabande.

"Yes," said Zelda. "Very much."

"You have never been to this part of the Kingdom before, correct?"

"I haven't," said Zelda. "Though I've always wanted to see the legendary twisted pines. But… as you know, my Lord, my studies prevented me from traveling much when I was younger."

"I have heard from Auru that you are shaping up to be a fine sorceress indeed," said the King. Zelda nodded once. Auru was one of the six Sages, who kept tabs on the Academy and the kingdom. He was also a crotchety, though affectionate, old man. Zelda adored him.

"I am," she responded, honestly and without any sort of bravado. "I have had the very best of mentors."

"Good," said the King with a nod. "And I understand that you spent the afternoon in prayer with the Queen. This is pleasing to me."

Zelda knew the answer to that one. "The Goddesses have blessed me greatly," she said simply. "My gratitude to them runs very deep."

The King smiled a little, which Zelda only knew because the whiskers of his short beard moved underneath his enormous, golden mask. The visage of a roaring lion, it was both beautiful and terrifying— a fitting mask for a King.

"I hope that my Lord has enjoyed the _Carrus Din_ so far?" asked Zelda, following her father through a complex set of steps.

"Indeed, I have," the King responded. "I do enjoy Ordon, but there's something to be said for the Snow Spine region. Hyrule is a beautiful kingdom from peak to lake and I am glad that the people are traversing it."

Zelda nodded once, unsure of how to respond to that.

"Have you been practicing your harp, daughter?" the King asked Zelda as the dance slowed, drawing near its end.

"Yes, some," said Zelda. It wasn't a complete lie— she'd picked it up to absentmindedly tune it earlier that afternoon before wandering out to find a late lunch. She made a mental vow to spend time tomorrow morning practicing her songs for the end of the festival, after she demonstrated some small magic. "I'm very confident in the music that I will be playing." That, at least, wasn't a lie at all.

"Good," said the King. "It is good for the people to take pride in their Princesses."

Again, Zelda wasn't sure of how to respond, but she was saved by the end of the dance. The King bowed slightly to her, and Zelda curtseyed deep, noticing the way her father's body was tense, and how he favored (very slightly) his left side. She knew he'd never say anything about it, either; as the King, he was loathe to admit weakness, though he was over fifty years old now and his body was bound to ache. Zelda made a mental note to have Saria slip him something later, or to find an excuse to touch her father and work a little healing magic on him; though her resources were lower than usual, she could easily spare the magic necessary to ease some of the King's pain.

She sat with Saria and Ashei for a while after that, sharing green potions and chasing it with wine. When Zelda got up to dance again, she was surprisingly light on her feet, and let an older Lord escort her around the dance floor to a lively gavotte.

The night was wearing on, and Zelda had lost track of what time it was. Well, it was a _Carrus Din_— the goal was to eat, drink, be merry, and celebrate. And if Zelda celebrated with a little too much wine, at least she could blame it on the green potion. The stuff tasted horrible. It had to be chased with something.

"Are you drunk, Princess?" came a familiar voice. Zelda turned to see the man in the wolf mask.

"Is that your question for this dance?" she fired back, even as she went willingly into his arms for yet another waltz. How did he always manage to pick waltzes?

"You're feeling feisty," the man observed. "Feisty enough to guess my name?"

"The night isn't over yet," Zelda said.

"This dance will be over soon," responded the man. "Unless you're planning on attending an informal dance as well?"

"I might," said Zelda. "I haven't decided yet." She shot a look up at the man from between her lashes.

"You're playing with fire, Princess," he growled.

"So scary," she laughed. "Like a big puppy."

"That mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble," said the man.

"Nothing I can't handle," Zelda shot back. She was pleased to note how slowly he was spinning them. Good. She'd hate it if she had to be sick all over his very nice doublet. "Green looks good on you."

The man laughed in genuine delight, and Zelda tried not to be proud of herself, though she wasn't fully sure of what she'd said that was so amusing.

"I'm glad my attire is to your liking," responded the man.

"So, strange man, what's your interest in me?"

"My name is Link, and you'd do well to call me by it," Link said.

"Fine, _Link_," Zelda responded, deciding to throw caution to the wind for the rest of the evening. "Why are you so interested in me? I haven't seen you dance with any of my sisters. In fact, I haven't seen you dance with anyone."

"Watching for me, Princess?"

"In your dreams. Now answer the question."

"I find you fascinating," said Link simply. "A twenty year old pampered princess with the incredible power of a high-level sorceress, and the wisdom to use that power properly. You have beautiful magic— and it is magic that is tied most closely to the soul after all, is it not?"

"You're dancing with me because of my magic?" Zelda asked skeptically.

"No," growled Link, his masked face nearing her own. "I'm dancing with you because you're you. That was two questions, and the ball is over, Princess. You owe me a dance tomorrow."

"Couldn't I just forego guessing your name tonight?" Zelda tried.

"That wasn't part of our original agreement, though I'll give you that question as a freebie."

Zelda resisted the urge to stomp her foot.

"You're a horrible, insufferable man, and I'm quite sure I can't stand you at all," she snarled. The weight of it crashed down on her all at once: the monsters in the woods, Romio's horrible promise, Lulu and Saria's fear, the spirit in the springs, Impa gone, and it was still only the third day of the _Carrus Din_.

"I've upset you," said Link softly. He took both of Zelda's hands and electricity shot up her arm. "That wasn't my intent."

"Stop using magic on me," she snapped.

"I'm not using any magic on you," Link responded, guiding her over to a stool in the inky shadows of an enormous tree. The dance was clearing out, people heading their separate ways, towards tents and other, smaller revels. "I promise."

"I can feel it shooting up my arm," she said, flexing her fingers within his grip.

"That's no magic." Link's grasp tightened just the slightest bit, and he knelt in the soft soil before her. "It's just us, Highness- you and me. No magic. You're upset, though. Would you like to tell me about it? We're quite hidden in the shadows, and I could not harm you, even if that Sheikah wasn't clinging to the edge of your skirt, waiting for me to make a wrong move."

Zelda gave a shaky laugh, and collected herself.

"I'm fine," she managed. "You're a stranger. I don't even know if I can trust you. I don't even know what you look like."

"I can take an Oath of Silence, if it would comfort you," said Link softly. "But… please pardon me if I seem a bit forward, but it seems that you could use someone to listen to you. A different set of ears."

Zelda looked at him. His eyes peered out from behind the wolf mask, brilliantly blue and completely sincere. She took a deep breath and let it out, squeezing Link's hands.

"You're very kind," she said simply. "But even if you swore an oath, I don't think I could talk about it tonight without…" breaking down. Panicking. Realizing how terrified she was, and losing her mind, and weeping with horror. "…Making myself feel worse," she finished, surprised at her own honesty. "But I do appreciate the offer, Link." She squeezed his hands again, enjoying the way that the magic he said wasn't his shot up her arm.

"Very well, Princess," he responded softly. "Would you care to guess my name?"

"Give me a hint," she said, her voice just as quiet, parroting her brazen words from the previous night.

"I'm from a forest," he told her. Zelda wondered when their fingers had become intertwined.

Zelda thought for a few moments. Most of the nobility from the Ordon provinces was present, but she knew the folk of the southern woods very well. So he was from a Snow Spine family. She ran through the names of the greater houses in her head, but nothing fit. So she decided to shoot for a lesser house.

"Nevado," she tried.

"You've guessed incorrectly," Link whispered. He raised each of her hands to his mask, touching the cool, smooth surface of it to the backs of her gloved hands. "Until tomorrow night, Princess."

He vanished, just as Tetra stumbled up.

"There you are," she laughed. "I've been looking _everywhere_ for you. Why are you sitting under this tree?"

"Wanted to rest," Zelda responded.

"Well, you should've rested somewhere else. Would you care to come to the Dotour's revel with me and Aveil and Ashei? Madame Aroma begged us to go, and it's certain to be fun."

Zelda squeezed her still-tingling hands shut. She wanted another goblet of wine to wash away the taste in her mouth. It reminded her suspiciously of disappointment, though she wasn't sure why.

"Yes," she responded, standing. "Yes, I'd love to."

—

Zelda awoke at dawn with a frown on her face. Anxiety was seeping through her bond with Sheik, and the falcon was shifting restlessly on his perch, shadow feathers sliding against each other in a sound that reminded Zelda of papers blowing in the wind.

"What's up?" she asked him blearily. He flew into the air and transformed into a man, transparent black feathers melting into solid flesh; he instantly began to frown and pace.

"I am feeling weakened," he said simply. "And I can't find Impa."

Zelda pushed herself up on one arm, her tangled hair swinging around her. "What do you mean, you can't find Impa? She's your anchor."

"I feel nothing from her," said Sheik simply. "The bonds are still active. I can feel all the others. It's just that I can feel no thoughts, or feelings, or anything coming from Impa. It is as though she is made of stone."

Zelda immediately swung her feet out of bed. She shivered once as the cool, early morning air touched her skin. Though it was midsummer, it was dratted cold in the Snow Spine.

"What should we do?" Zelda asked anxiously. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't know," Sheik responded. "The others and I have agreed that nobody is to know what is going on except for you, and Saria and Ashei if they figure it out."

Zelda brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself, shivering from cold and dread. Impa was strong— the strongest magic user Zelda knew. And she was clever. That something could cut her off so completely….

"I don't like this, Princess," Sheik said simply. "It feels as though there is something afoul at work."

Zelda laid her cheek against her knee.

"The Goddesses wouldn't lead us astray, would they?" she asked him, feeling insecure and naive and young, like she had when she confessed her fear of shadows to him when she was but a small child. He'd comforted her then by saying, 'Shadows are not what is evil and unknown, but what is good and soon to be known.' She wanted him to comfort her again, but part of her knew that words of reassurance would not be forthcoming.

Sheik turned abruptly on his heel, his long braid swinging behind him.

"Impa had suspicions," he finally said simply. "That the augur's reading had been tampered with, and that the Goddesses did not ordain that we came here."

Zelda fisted her hands in an attempt to keep from biting her nails. She felt cold. Such a suggestion was blasphemy… and yet..

"Either way, we're here, and now it's just me that's left," she said quietly. "I'm the only one with power standing between whatever's in the woods and my people."

Sheik turned apologetic red eyes onto the youngest Princess.

"We will all loan you our strength," he said simply, speaking for the other Sheikah. "We can feed our magic into you so that you stay strong, and can fight if need be. If you fall, the consequences will be dire."

That was an understatement. Zelda began chewing on her lower lip.

"I promised Impa I wouldn't go into the woods," Zelda said. "So I won't. Do you think I should try to ward the camp?"

She wished she'd done it nights ago, right when she first arrived. But it hadn't occurred to her that she would be in danger all the way out here; she thought there would be nothing to fear. There never was at any of the other _Carrus_ festivals.

She'd been wrong.

"It is likely worthless to try to ward," Sheik said simply. "Whatever is in the woods feeds off magic. Your ward would only strengthen it, not the other way around."

"Which means… what?" Zelda asked. "If I can't use magic, how can I kill… how can I stop whatever it is?"

"It likely has a weakness," said Sheik simply. "But to determine such a thing, we must first come to know the nature of what it is that is feeding off of magic. Shad is already at work in the library looking for relevant information. As soon as we have discovered something that assimilates neatly into what we already know, I will inform you. Until then, I will remain in pure shadow form to conserve energy."

"Thank you, Sheik," Zelda said, sighing and flopping back. The Sheikah inclined his head once and vanished.

She screwed her eyes shut. Aside from the fact that her head hurt and her memories of the previous evening were foggy at best, it was all too much. But it was the fourth day. The _Carrus Din_ was at its' halfway mark. She just had to make it through today, and three days after that, and she could go home to Hyrule Castle, and to the Academy, and leave whatever horrible thing was in the forest to grow and fester until it moved out of the woods and swallowed the kingdom whole.

Maybe it was the hangover. Maybe it was the stress. But Zelda curled into herself, buried her face in her pillow, and wept silently in the pale morning light.

_Uploaded Saturday, December 17, 2011, at 3:10PM Central time_


	4. The Deal

_Not much to say about this chapter—I think it speaks for itself. This was one of my least favorite chapters to write, but in retrospect I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out. If you spot any typos, let me know and I'll correct them._

_If you're still hankering for more Zelda goodness when you've finished this chapter, go read "Fighting Gravity" by CrazygurlMadness. Aside from the fact that she's my friend and I am shamelessly plugging her, it's a **really** good story. Go. Read. Be happy._

_Without any further ado, here's the latest update. Hang on to your boots, kiddos. It's gonna be a bumpy ride._

_-L_

* * *

><p>Aveil found Zelda worrying over a thick sorcery tome and a plate of pheasant at lunchtime and dragged her away for the archery competition.<p>

"You're an ace with the bow," said the fiery redhead, ignoring Zelda's protests as she was hauled off her stool. "You're coming."

Hapless, there was nothing for Zelda to do but stack her plate on her book and follow in her elder sister's wake.

"— Suppose you have a chance even though I _am_ arguably better than you," the fifth princess babbled. Zelda forced herself to listen. "So I'll probably beat you, but still, we're the Princesses and we've got to put on a good show. I can't find Tetra anywhere, otherwise I'd drag her along, and Ashei has been practicing for this all morning. I hope she's got blisters all over her fingers. I can't stand it when she beats me."

"Mmhm," grunted Zelda as she took another bite of her pheasant— no easy task to do while being dragged along across uneven terrain at a fast clip and balancing a platter of food on the cover of a priceless text.

"And anyway maybe we'll find your mysterious masked man from the ball there," continued Aveil, ignorant of Zelda's sudden spluttering. "He looked like the outdoorsy, huntsman type— not that I was looking, but he definitely had archer's arms. What did you say his name was?"

"I didn't," managed Zelda. Nauseated worry was still a living thing in her stomach, twisting and writhing in a many-fingered ball. But Aveil's presence was a distraction, and a welcome one; even if things were on a level of "bad" that hadn't been seen in the Kingdom in years, Zelda still had to keep up pretenses. And the best way to do that was to bicker with Aveil.

"Well, keeping secrets isn't much unlike you, though I have to say that you can't keep him all to yourself. Sisters share."

"You're horrible," said Zelda drily. Aveil hummed and shrugged.

"Horrible or not, he has a very nice leg. Is he poor? Are you afraid of what Father will say? Because I wouldn't be if I were you. If Julietta talked Father into letting her marry Romio, you can probably get hitched to some… well, whatever he is."

Of all the Princesses, Aveil was closest with the King; she'd inherited his red hair and stubborn determination, though nobody was fully sure of where her inability to shut up came from. Zelda thought about pointing out to Aveil that, by all rights, Romio shouldn't have been able to pull off his three impossible tasks, and that he had (in fact) apparently made a highly dangerous bargain for it, but she decided it just wasn't worth the breath trying to argue with Aveil. She might as well try to talk a terrier out of barking.

"…But anyway that's all water under the bridge, isn't it? You've forgiven me for all that, right?"

Zelda was suddenly very sorry that she'd tuned out. "Um….?"

"Good, I'm glad to hear it," Aveil stated cheerfully. "Oh, look, there's the archery range. And there's Ashei— Goddesses, she does look ridiculous in a dress, doesn't she?"

"She looks about as happy as wet cat," Zelda agreed, momentary humor sparking through her at the sight. Ashei was clenching her bow in a white-knuckled fist, the folds of her ivory gown blowing gently around her legs. Her frown was visible from several hundred feet away, and if they could, her violet eyes would be shooting sparks.

"She argued with Father— wanted to wear her usual getup for archery, you know? But Father refused, said a Princess has to look… well, Princess like. Then he started to say something about being more like Julietta, except without the whole Romio thing, and I'm sure you can imagine where it went from there."

Zelda could. Ashei hated to be compared to anyone, but most of all loathed being contrasted against Julietta. The fourth princess of Hyrule had, on more than one occasion, called the Golden Princess "a featherbrained ditz."

"Ah, sororal love," sighed Aveil fondly. She grabbed Zelda's wrist and hauled her off again. "Come on, then, let's find your bow- I had the knights deliver it somewhere around here- and you can get to work showing us what you're made of."

"You're obnoxious," Zelda managed.

"Next thing you'll be telling me that there's an imbalance of yin and yang in the soil, and that you have to go do some ensorcelling up in a tree somewhere."

"Actually—"

"We all know that whole 'yin and yang' thing is a load of dodongo dung. I don't know why you even try to use it anymore."

"You have got to be the least sisterly sister in Hyrule," Zelda finally managed.

"Nah, Julietta's worse. Did she really force you to listen to her recite that drivel she calls poetry for_ two hours_ the other morning?"

Zelda thought back to the surprising discussion, Julietta's tears, and the horrible news she'd brought. The ball of nausea began to writhe again.

"It wasn't that bad," Zelda managed weakly.

Aveil snorted. "And I'm a bouncing bulbin. Come on."

"Sheik, my book," managed Zelda. The shadow falcon appeared immediately and grasped her plate and book in his talons. He took it and soared away, and Zelda sighed in relief. One less thing to worry about.

Just then, someone bumped into her rather forcefully.

"Ouch!" Zelda exclaimed, stumbling back a few steps. She looked up into familiar eyes, and recognized that shock of red hair immediately. "Chancellor Makivelo!"

"A thousand pardons, Princess," Makivelo blathered, wringing his hands. "So sorry— I'm afraid someone jostled me, and I… well, I am so sorry, and if there's anything I might do…"

"It's quite alright," Zelda responded with a small smile. "But I really must be going."

"Of course, Princess," responded the man, bowing over her hand and pressing his lips briefly to the back of it. "Will you be competing in the archery contest?"

"If my sister gets her way," Zelda responded drily. "Good day, Chancellor."

She didn't bother to wait for the bumbling man's response, and instead allowed Aveil to drag her off again through the crowd.

"Who was that?" Aveil asked over her shoulder.

"Chancellor Makivelo of the Peak Province," responded Zelda.

"His hair is a lovely shade of red, though I must say that he seemed rather like an idiot," Aveil stated.

Zelda didn't know whether or not she agreed, and decided it would be safest to stay silent.

"Here we are," said Aveil, pulling Zelda through the last of the loose crowd to stand up front near the archery equipment. Ashei was there, scowling down at her billowing skirt.

"You know that this thing is a hazard, yeah?" Ashei said to her twin the second the redhead bounced up. "It'll get me all tangled up and then I'll shoot someone on accident."

"Nonsense," responded Aveil. "We always hit what we shoot at. Surely you aren't worried that I'm better at shooting in a skirt than you are?"

Ashei's expression darkened.

"I'll light your hair on fire," growled the raven twin. Aveil grinned, and set to work unpacking her bow from its long box and stringing it.

"How're you feeling?" Ashei asked, coming over to stand by Zelda as she tended to her own bow.

"Much better," Zelda lied quietly. The heat of the day was wearing on her, and the steady pull on her magic was a constant drain in the back of her awareness. "Saria came to see me yesterday morning, and made me sleep."

"She's been sleeping most of the time herself," Ashei responded. "But out of the three of us, she has the least magic. She'll be fine, yeah?"

"We'll all be fine," Zelda said firmly, and strung her bow in a single, sleek movement.

"Where's Impa?" asked Ashei as Zelda slung her bow over her shoulder. The familiar weight was comforting. She focused on that, and not the thick fist of of terror and nausea that slammed into her, or the exhaustion that was steadily pulling at her, worsening with every moment.

"Busy," responded Zelda. "She's off…. Doing Impa things." Ashei raised a brow. Zelda shrugged helplessly. "She's not exactly forthcoming at the best of times, you know."

"Clear as mud, yeah?"

"Yeah," agreed Zelda. She looked out towards the tree line, which was several hundred feet away, hoping that the fear causing her heart to slam against her ribs wasn't showing plain as day on her face. "Hey, Ashei…"

The shield maiden turned violet eyes upon her younger sister.

"Just… don't go into the woods, ok?" Zelda asked simply. "Like, really, no matter what happens, if you can help it, don't go in there."

"Something you don't want me seeing in there, little sister?" Ashei asked lightly, though her eyes said she understood.

"Oh, you know," responded Zelda with an airy wave of a hand that was remarkably steady. "There's some Yetis in there. And some other stuff."

"I'll be sure to steer clear of any stuff," responded Ashei blandly. "And let me know if you need help, yeah?"

Zelda was reminded of the conversation they'd had the previous night. She nodded once, then glanced around. "Where's Tetra?"

"Hiding from Aveil," Ashei responded. "I think she's off praying somewhere, or beating someone up with swords, or throwing rocks at stuff."

Zelda's eyes strayed to the woods. "Do you think she….?"

Ashei followed the direction of Zelda's glance, then shook her head.

"She doesn't like trees, you know," Ashei reminded Zelda. "Prefers open spaces. Says that's why she likes water so much, and that the only good tree is one that's part of a ship."

"Yeah," responded Zelda, still worried. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Ashei touched Zelda's shoulder once in reassurance, and then turned away. Zelda blinked once as a leather arm guard was thrust into her face.

"Well?" said Aveil, wiggling it around.

"Thanks," Zelda said, catching it as Aveil impatiently dropped the arm guard.

"Well you two were so busy yakking I figured you'd forget it," said Aveil. "Have a sudden need for a meaningful heart to heart between sisters?"

"Asking her if she knew where Tetra was," Zelda responded, tugging off her gloves and laying them aside. She began to strap the guard on her arm, shaking her head at a servant who stepped up to do the task for her. Zelda preferred to deal with her own buckles; if she did it herself, she'd know that it was done right.

"Pooh, Tetra, off hiding," waved Aveil dismissively. "She just knows that she'll lose to me."

Behind Aveil, Ashei rolled her eyes at her twin. Sheik chose that moment to reappear, swooping down in a sleek rush of feathers and diving in a single liquid movement into Zelda's shadow.

"Just because your Sheikah can take the form of a falcon, he feels like he needs to show off," groused Aveil, even as Zelda sent a warm tendril of thanks to the exhausted shadow curled around her life force. He'd been feeding her magic all day, and she was becoming worried for him… though the beginnings of an idiotic, potentially catastrophic plan had taken root in her mind as she'd stared at her book, searching for an answer.

In fact, Zelda had been reading all morning; she hadn't taken the magic to cure herself of her hangover, and had instead grabbed the _Vade Mecum_, a thick tome that every sorcerer and sorceress was expected to have close to their person at all times. The book contained many secrets of life and magic, as well as no small amount of philosophy, incredibly dense magical theory, and a number of overwhelmingly detailed diagrams that wiggled, rotated, changed language, and otherwise tormented those who were hungover. When Ashei had glanced over Zelda's shoulder at breakfast, the older girl had turned green, told Zelda 'good luck,' and run off to vomit in a bush. Zelda herself had been feeling nauseated looking at all the shifting diagrams and lines of text, but it was necessary. Unfortunately.

It was as she tried to ignore the way that a number of characters were rotating wildly, at different speeds and in different directions, that she'd remembered that she wasn't the only strong magic user in the encampment. Magicians hated traveling, and most sorcerers and sorceresses tended to stay as far away from people as possible, so there wasn't anyone from the Academy present at the _Carrus Din._ But there was someone with an overwhelming amount of magic, wild magic, who might be able to help.

But would he? He'd probably want to strike a bargain. It would be a very big bargain, too; Zelda wondered what, exactly, it was that he would ask of her in return for so momentous a favor.

The slap of a hand against her cheek brought her out of her rumination.

"Ow," hissed Zelda, one hand immediately coming up to cradle the stinging flesh. She glared at Aveil. "What was that for?"

"I was calling you and calling you and you wouldn't respond," she said simply. "The competition is about to begin."

The archery competition, though not necessarily a strictly religious activity, was a crucial part of every _Carrus_ _Din_. Praying all day got old, and the competition was a nice break in pace.

Zelda followed her sisters to their targets. The princesses always shot first, followed by the high ranking nobles, then the low ranking nobles, and so on. Points were awarded for accuracy; whoever got the most points won. She took a deep breath and let her mind wash clear. For just a few minutes, she would pretend like the world wasn't about to crumble around her. She could shoot arrows into a target. She could be ok.

"You're going down," hissed Aveil, elbowing Zelda in the side. She looked ahead at her target and imagined that the bullseye was the pinpoint of all her fears.

"It's on," the seventh Princess replied, notching her arrow, pulling the fletching to her cheek, and letting fly.

—

Aveil was still sulking that evening when it was Ashei's turn to perform.

"You're all scatterbrained all day, don't respond when your name is called, keep your nose glued to a book with words that rearrange themselves willy-nilly, practically miss the competition because you're off in dreamland, and then you all of a sudden hit seven perfect bullseyes in a row?"

Next to Zelda, Tetra rolled her eyes. The sixth Princess, true to form, had been hiding from Aveil all afternoon— in Julietta's tent, of all places. Zelda had found her older sister playing cards with Romio the knight and begged their assistance in hiding from the angry fifth princess.

"Look, Aveil, I don't know what you want me to say—" started Zelda. Aveil shushed her with a hiss and a flap of her hand.

"I'm not speaking to you," said Aveil, sticking her nose in the air. "But just so you know, you are my _least_ favorite sister right now after Julietta, Tetra, and Ashei. In order of horridness."

Well, that was hardly unusual. At least Aveil's world was still well ordered.

Shad hadn't found anything in the Royal library that could help their situation. So, as she readied herself alone for the ball that night, Zelda called Sheik out into his human form and discussed her plan with him.

"_Impa wouldn't like it," Sheik said instantly as soon as Zelda suggested her plan._

"_Impa isn't here, and it's not like we have many other options," she responded, slamming down her hairbrush. After dressing her, the maids had been exiled. "Unless you have a brilliant plan, and I know for a fact that you don't, otherwise you would have told me."_

_Sheik sighed and sank onto Zelda's cot. The way he moved his arms reminded Zelda of a bird folding its' wings._

"_We don't have a better plan, and though yours makes me nervous, it's likely our best shot," Sheik agreed grudgingly. "And I am beginning to believe that the sooner we get this dealt with, the better, no matter the means."_

_That was the most un-Sheik thing Zelda had ever heard the Sheikah say. She gulped, mouth dry._

"_What aren't you telling me, Sheik?" she said._

_The Sheikah buried his head in his hands— a completely human move she'd never seen him execute before._

"_You can trust Link," Sheik said simply. "Impa trusted him, though she withheld her logic and, I suspect, some knowledge."_

_Zelda hadn't known that it was possible for Sheikah to withhold knowledge from each other. "Can she do that?"_

"_The Host can restrict knowledge," Sheik said simply. "The Host, and the Host alone, may do so. As the Host on this plane, Impa would have had the ability to keep pieces of knowledge from us— I am surprised, however, to learn that she did. It is alarming, to say the least."_

"_And…." Continued Sheik, his voice so hopeless that Zelda's stomach dropped to her toes._

"_And?" She asked, voice carefully controlled._

"_We may have a bigger problem," Sheik said simply. "Magic is being pulled from you at an incredible rate— much higher than you are aware of. The other Sheikah and I are pouring our own magic into you to keep you stable."_

"_I understand that isn't a good thing, but how is that a bigger problem than me entering into what could possibly be a horrible, catastrophic agreement so that I can battle with a force of nature that I know nothing about?"_

_Sheik didn't speak for a long time. Zelda grabbed a comb and begin brushing her hair, the familiar movements soothing to her nerves, which frayed more and more as every second passed by._

"_Shad," said Sheik at last, his voice a whisper in the later afternoon. "The problem is Shad. He has no living host."_

_Slowly, carefully, Zelda set her comb down._

"_Shad is keyed to the Castle Wards. If… if this thing drains enough magic from you, it could destroy the wards on the palace."_

_Swallowing was suddenly very difficult._

"_You can't let that happen," she said simply. "If it comes down to it…"_

_Sheik looked up at her, his eyes hollow. Suddenly, he looked old— very, very old. Zelda could see the weight of his age in his eyes._

"_How long?" She asked quietly. "How long do I have before the wards are compromised?"_

_Sheik didn't answer. Zelda felt panic rise within her._

"_Sheik?"_

"_A day," he finally croaked. "Maybe less."_

_Zelda was glad she was seated, else her legs would have given out._

"_Make a deal with Link," Sheik said simply. "And pray that he is benevolent. Otherwise, it will mean your death, and Goddesses save us from the chaos that will be unleashed on our Kingdom."_

Zelda felt jittery and terrified. Dealing with Link was like nothing she'd ever done before— no political maneuvering, no in-depth analysis of magic, nothing had ever prepared her for a card as wild as he. She wondered how things had come to this. How, in the space of four days, she was willing to promise a near-total stranger anything, _anything_, for his help.

Where was the strong, confident sorceress who had bathed naked in the spring? When had she been replaced with this fretting, fragile girl?

Thunderous applause nearly scared Zelda out of her skin. She cast her eyes to the stage in disbelief. Ashei had already finished her performance— and, from the looks of the two sweating knights on either side of her, she'd done marvelously.

Zelda swallowed. It was time.

The sun sank below the horizon as the occupants of the camp filed away to the ball area. The grass had been well and truly packed down by many feet; ordinarily, after such an event, Zelda would heal the field before setting off for the palace once more.

Zelda would be lucky if she was still alive.

With that thought to sober her, she looked around. She didn't see Link anywhere. As the dance started, she pulled on a precious magic and moved to go sit in the shadows of the great oak where Link had held her hands last night and asked her to unburden herself to him.

Last night. It was so recent, and yet Zelda felt wholly different from the woman she'd been then.

She didn't have to wait long. She sensed him before he melted out of the shadows.

"Waiting for me?" he asked, deep voice unreadable.

Below her mask, Zelda licked her lips and gathered all her courage.

"I need your help," she said simply. "I'm dying."

A great stillness settled over Link. He cocked his head to one side in a wolflike motion. Zelda took it as a sign to continue.

"I want to make a bargain with you," she told him.

"You want me to sustain you," he answered smoothly.

Zelda nodded once. Her hands were shaking. She fisted them in her lap, clutching the white silk of her gown as though it would keep her from unraveling.

"So you've obviously noticed by now that whatever it is that is draining you doesn't seem to affect me," Link said. "This… plague that indiscriminately sucks magic from men, women, and children does not touch me."

Zelda nodded once.

"You don't know why it doesn't touch me," Link continued, turning his back. Beyond him, beyond the shade of the massive tree, people danced and smiled and laughed as though nothing was wrong. "Only that I remain healthy and whole while you wither away. And yet you trust me? When, for all you know, I could be at the very heart of the evil in the woods?"

"I've felt your magic," she whispered. "It's not stolen magic. You aren't tied to this."

"You know so little, Princess," he snarled, whirling on her in a sudden move that had her shrinking back on the stool. "You know so very little indeed. And what did you think to offer to bargain with?"

"Anything," Zelda responded. "I will give you anything you want if you will help me stop whatever it is that's in the woods. I can't let it harm my people."

Link made a derisive noise in the back of his throat. Zelda would have been furious if she weren't so terrified.

"You need to learn, Princess, that not all men can be trusted," he said simply. "And that a bargain like that could get you into very serious trouble indeed."

"I will give you anything," Zelda repeated, voice a little stronger, "but I will not hurt my King or his heir, and I will do nothing that will risk instability in my country."

"Your bargain is accepted," Link responded. "But this is a very large deal, Princess. It needs blood to seal it. I need your blood to bind your life force to my own."

Zelda's pulse picked up, even as she unclenched her hands. Slowly, she stood and began to draw her left glove off.

"Does this negate the terms of our previous deal?" she asked, her voice quiet.

"No, Princess," Link replied, pulling off his own left glove. "It simply raises the stakes."

She was afraid to ask what he meant. Instead, she extended her bare left hand, pale skin bright beneath the moon. She took a good, long look at her palm. After this, it would bear a scar. Probably forever.

"Do you have a knife?" she asked, pleased at how little her voice shook.

"A knife will not be necessary," he said simply. "But you will need to shut your eyes, Princess."

She jerked her eyes shut and swallowed loudly.

"This is going to hurt, isn't it," she squeaked, jumping as a warm hand gently touched her neck. The touch was strangely soothing.

"Only for a moment," he responded. That warm hand withdrew.

She heard it the moment his own flesh opened. The soft splat of blood landing in the soil had her knees shaking. She was worried they would give out. A moment later, searing white pain lanced across her palm as something cut deep, down through the tissue. She felt muscles ripping away from each other. It was agonizing. She bit her lip on a scream and blood welled in her mouth.

A warm, wet hand wrapped around her own. Palm to palm, their fingers laced together as their blood dripped to mingle on the packed earth. Link spoke a single Word, and Zelda felt his power wash over her like a tidal wave. Her magic… her power was nothing compared to this. He was immense. Monstrous. Magnificent.

The heat of his blood on her palm was unbearable. It was boiling. Zelda made to jerk her hand away but his fingers tightened over her hand, locking her in place. It was like fire, and it rushed into her, filling her with flame. She was full of fire, and of wind, and of the wilderness. The pain shifted until it felt as though her body was a waterskin that was being packed, slowly and surely, with snow. She was frozen. She was dying. It was all too much.

And then it was over.

Zelda's knees began to wobble.

"Steady, Princess," said Link. "Keep your eyes closed. You've lost a lot of blood."

He helped her back to the stool. She sank onto it gratefully.

"Stay there," Link told her. "Don't open your eyes. You're going to be shaky for a few minutes. I'm going to fetch you something to eat. You need the energy."

"I feel funny," she said quietly.

"I know," Link responded, and there was genuine remorse in his voice. "I wish there was another way. Stay there."

Zelda was careful to hold her hand away from her dress. She hoped that no blood had gotten onto the white of her fourth night garb; it would be hell to explain, aside from the fact that it would ruin the silk.

The silk was the least of her worries.

Zelda looked within herself, to the place where Sheik rested, and was stunned to see her magical core was substantially replenished, though still far lower than normal. Sheik's sparkling shadow, though thin, was wrapped securely around her life force, and seemed to be faring better than earlier.

And there, knotted in with her own life force, inextricably intertwined, a single strand of ivy grew amongst the bright, pulsing threads of her own energy.

Zelda leaned over and threw up.

A cold goblet was pressed into her gloved right hand.

"Drink," came Link's familiar voice. Without hesitation, Zelda obeyed. She felt him take her left hand between his two bare ones, and a cool, wet rag moved over her skin.

"It's usually bad form to remove the blood in anything less than twenty four hours," Link said quietly. "But I'm not too worried. That's more superstition than actual magic."

"I'm bound to you forever, aren't I?" Zelda asked without preamble. Link's hands stilled from where they were gently daubing the blood between her fingers.

"We have the ability to share magic," he finally said. "Until one of us dies. Having second thoughts?"

Zelda jerked her head side to side in a halting no. She pressed the cool metal of the goblet against her lips and took a sip. The sickly sweet taste of potion clashed with the residual tangs of vomit and blood. She wondered what Link must think of her.

It hardly mattered. She was in a debt to him that was so tremendous that she doubted she'd ever earn her way out of it.

"Keep drinking the potion," Link said simply. "It'll rinse your mouth out. As delightful as this little interlude has been, you still owe me a dance, and I'm sure you're bursting with more questions."

"How will I explain this to the King?" Zelda asked, her voice a mere whisper.

Two fingers tilted Zelda's chin up.

"Look at me," Link said finally, his voice soft. Zelda opened her eyes and peered at him from behind her mask. His own mask was firmly in place, but his blue eyes were serious. "Don't worry about that now. Worry about the monster in the woods. We'll handle your father later."

Zelda nodded once. She finished the rest of her potion, and pulled her glove back on. Shakily, she stood, accepting the hand that Link offered her. He'd put his own gloves back on, too; he was looking handsome tonight in all ivory.

"Dance with me?" he asked her simply. Zelda gulped and nodded once, and allowed him to lead her from the hidden shadows of the tree out onto the dance floor, where they merged seamlessly with the other dancers performing a slow fox-trot.

The whole ordeal had lasted perhaps ten minutes, and Zelda was reeling. If only there had been another way. But there hadn't— none that she could think of, and there wasn't enough time for Sheik and the other Sheikah to come up with something better. And now, here she was, bound to the magic of a total stranger until she died, and owing him an enormous favor.

"Rupee for your thoughts," Link said as he guided Zelda in a slow spin.

"Tell me everything you know about why magic users who live near the Snow Spine are drained of their abilities and killed," Zelda said, whirling in Link's arms. "That's my question for this dance."

Behind his wolf's mask, Link frowned— Zelda could see it in the furrowing of his eyebrows.

"Rumor has it," he began, "that many centuries ago, there was a mighty war between the creatures of Good and the creatures of Evil. Hyrule was, at the time, under the care of a strong and capable Queen who was not easily defeated; however, the creatures of Evil had obtained the unholy power of a demon, and drove her from her palace.

"This was before the Snow Spine was part of Hyrule. The Queen sought refuge in the mountains, which were even wilder then than they are now. And it was there that she encountered several Creatures of Power. The strongest of all of them was the King of Beasts, whose form was ghastly, but whose heart was wild and good. The King of Beasts fell in love with the exiled Queen, and so he made a bargain with the Queen, who was a talented sorceress. If she would give him a human form- the one thing that he could not obtain for himself- he would in turn drive the creatures of Evil from her lands, and seal them away in the Underworld. The Queen agreed, and the King of Beasts took on the body of a man.

"He took his sword in hand and went to Hyrule to make good on his end of the bargain. He slaughtered the army of Evil, and lured the King of Evil- a malevolent, horrible spirit- north to his domain, to where his power was its strongest. There, the King of Beasts stripped the King of Evil of his powers, but in the process, the King of Beasts was mortally wounded. He begged the Queen of Hyrule to use the last of his life force to defeat the King of Evil fully, but the Queen had fallen in love with the King of Beasts, and could not kill her lover. Instead, she bound the powerless King of Evil in chains of Light, and sealed him away deep below the mountains.

"There's more to the legend, of course— happy endings, and so on, but the core of the legend, the stripping and sealing of a great Creature of Power— possibly a demigod— I know to be true. Apparently, when the Creature was stripped of its' powers, the job was not done completely, and it has been feeding off the magic of others, slowly regaining its strength over ages and ages."

"It would make sense," Zelda said, though she felt cold at the idea of a Creature of Power that old and that angry rising up from underneath the mountains. "I don't know if I can battle something like that, Link."

"Have faith in yourself, Princess," Link said. "You're stronger than you give yourself credit for."

As though on cue, the dance ended. Zelda curtseyed deeply to Link.

"I will come and find you later," he said simply. "You still owe me a dance."

He bowed over her hand. As he turned to walk away, however, a series of screams rent the air. Link's fingers tightened on Zelda's and he pulled her behind him as he turned in a fluid movement to face the screams. The crowd was pulling back and apart from a shriveled husk that had collapsed to the ground. Zelda recognized the shock of red hair immediately and stepped out from behind Link to rush forward.

It was Chancellor Makivelo.

An incredibly handsome man garbed in rich black robes materialized suddenly by Cole's side, kneeling on the packed earth. He looked not quite real; there was something transparent about him. He reminded Zelda, in a twisted way, of Sheik. Wild chestnut locks framed brilliant blue eyes that were unsettling. She knew them, somehow. The man stared, delicate face unreadable, at the Chancellor's shriveled body. What was left of the Chancellor hardly even looked human— it looked as though all the moisture had been sucked from him. His skin clung gruesomely to his bones. His eye sockets were clearly empty. His teeth showed in a silent scream.

"Well, well," said the man in black, turning brilliantly blue eyes on Zelda. There was something incredibly familiar about them, though the cold in them gave her shivers. His voice was familiar, too. She just wasn't sure how. "Well played, Princess. Well done." He bowed swiftly in a mocking salute. "Does it satisfy you, you wretched girl?"

What? Zelda thought, unable to wrap her head around the situation. What was going on?

Without warning, a sword was in Link's hand.

"You will not insult her," he growled.

The figure laughed a high, clear, terrifying laugh that raised the hair on the back of Zelda's neck. He stood, and dusted his hands off, before narrowing his eyes at Zelda. A muscle in his arm twitched.

Zelda reacted instantly.

Before the blast of Dark Energy had even made it to her, she'd conjured a barrier of Quest around herself and Link, who had- just as quickly- summoned a number of tree roots to wrap around the figure's legs. The blast dissolved against the Quest barrier even as the figure shook clear of them and aimed another spell. Zelda had summoned the counter spell before she even fully realized what was going on, acting on pure instinct; the figure's blast was contained. Spinning blades of purple and red Dark Energy shot out from the man towards the crowd. Just as quickly, Zelda sucked the blades towards her, caught the Darkness between her hands, and reshaped it instantly into Wind, which she wrapped around the man in black.

Beside her, Link was moving in a way Zelda had never seen. His feet were firmly planted against the ground while the rest of his body twisted. It looked almost as though he was dancing, except that with every flipping, twirling motion of his hands and arms, the world shook and massive roots twined upwards from the soil to wrap around the figure in black, only to be blasted apart by Darkness. As the strange man was distracted by a large root, Zelda quickly conjured her bow and shot two quick Light arrows at the man. Both arrows were swatted away by a blast of pure Dark Energy; however, one redirected arrow went hurtling into the body of what had once been Chancellor Cole Makivelo.

The effect was instantaneous.

The corpse burst into purple smoke, then crumbled into dust. The man screamed and clutched his head, and turned ferocious eyes on Zelda.

"You'll pay for that, you bitch," he hissed. Then, terrifyingly, he smiled, and let loose another of those evil chuckles; in the next second he vanished in a cloud of black smoke.

Exhausted, Zelda sagged, and would have crumpled to the ground had it not been for Link's quick arms around her. A quick glance inward confirmed what she already knew: her core was almost completely depleted. Sheik was a hollow shadow, thin as gossamer cobwebs, wrapped around her soul. Steady energy pulsed slowly into her from the vine of ivy within her— Link, loaning her his strength. Gratefully, she latched onto it as she latched onto his arms, feeling steady warmth slowly trickling into her.

She became aware of the whispers and stares of the people around her. Then the crowd parted to admit the King of Hyrule, who was ferocious in his golden lion's mask.

"Princess Zelda," he said, his voice rumbling with rage. "Explain this."

Zelda tried to speak, but her voice came out a mere croak. To her surprise, it was not Link who came to save her, but Sheik.

The Sheikah manifested, almost completely transparent, looking haggard.

"My King," said Sheik, dropping to one knee. "What you have just witnessed was a pair of rogue Sorcerers that the Princess and Impa have been tracking."

"Chancellor Cole Makivelo was a sorcerer?" the King asked dubiously.

"A low-level one," rasped Zelda, picking up on Sheik's lie. "He has been siphoning energy off of our people. What you saw was what happens when an energy spell like that gets out of control." That, at least, wasn't a lie. Zelda only wished that she'd realized sooner that the Chancellor had been the one pulling energy off of her. How had she not noticed? She was a disgrace. As though reading her thoughts, Link tightened his arm around her in a reassuring squeeze. "Impa and I are still uncertain of the identity of the second man, who you saw."

"And where exactly is Impa?" the King asked. "She has been remarkably scarce the past few days."

"Searching for the sorcerer's power sources," lied Sheik. "The energy that they were siphoning had to lead somewhere. She is trying to track it and destroy it even as we speak."

"It was sloppy of you to allow such danger near the people," said the King. Zelda felt Link stiffen. "I am remarkably disappointed in you, Princess Zelda."

Zelda bowed her head. "I understand, Sire. It was foolhardy of me."

The King turned his gaze on Link.

"And who are you?"

"I am a servant of the Goddesses, my King," Link said simply. "I live in the region." Zelda wondered what kind of magic he practiced, and where he'd learned. Certainly she would have heard of him if he had gone through the Academy. No sorcerer had the kind of power Link had. He was something else. Something bigger.

Something from the woods.

"I happened to encounter the same draining phenomena as the Princess and Lady Sheikah, and have been searching for a way to rectify it," Link said smoothly, even as Zelda's heart rate picked up in panic. "I am now serving the Princess, so that she might vanquish the power."

"And why, exactly, are you touching the Princess with such familiarity?" The icy disapproval in the King's voice made frost seem warm. Link, however, remained unfazed.

"The Princess has expended a tremendous amount of energy and put strain on her magical core trying to shield the Royal Family from the drain of the rogue sorcerers' spell," he responded. "I am feeding her my own meager power to keep her from completely depleting her core and damaging herself, Sire. To do so, physical contact is necessary." Zelda was glad that Link had omitted the part where he was also physically holding her up. If she had the strength, the would have ripped herself out of his arms. They'd just gone through a draining (though brief) magical battle, and he was fine. Completely unfazed. Nobody, no mortal, could have that kind of strength.

Oh, Goddesses. And she was bound to him, whatever he was.

Zelda pushed down a rising flood of panic.

"It's true, Sire," said Ashei, stepping quietly out of the shadows. She dropped a deep and graceful curtsey before the King. The golden lion mask glinted in the firelight as the King looked impassively down on his fourth daughter. "Zelda and I have discussed it. I have felt her shielding all of us these four days at camp."

"I will attest to this as well," Saria said, also stepping forward to stand beside Ashei. The second princess looked like a tiny doll compared to the willowy height and supple strength of the fourth. "I have put Zelda into several healing trances so that her magic could replenish."

"I've seen her drinking green potion, Father," said Aveil, stepping forward to stand on Ashei's other side. "Every night during the dance."

"And why was I never informed of any of this, Princess Zelda?" the King asked.

"Mortal weapons are no use against magic, Sire, and Impa and I believed it would have unduly alarmed you." Zelda's voice was hoarse and husky. She was trying to think about anything except the arms around her stomach. "As a sorceress— as a powerful sorceress, it is my own responsibility to ensure that rogue magic users are contained and that innocents are protected. Impa and I believed that we had the situation fully in hand." She bowed her head. "Clearly we were mistaken. A thousand apologies, my Lord."

The King frowned. Finally, he nodded his head once.

"The dance will continue," he said, striding from the floor. A few people looked askance at the scorched patch of dirt where the battle had occurred. Zelda drew on Link's magic, and with a twist of her hand, it disappeared into the earth, creating a hole. The rest of the soil pulled itself around the hole, knitting over it like flesh over a wound.

The transparency that was Sheik completely vanished at the same time that her legs gave out. Against her will, she sagged against Link. He quickly adjusted his grip to sweep her up and carry her, bridal-style, off the floor. He deposited her upon a stool at the Royal Table, a good distance away from the throne where the King and Queen sat, and conjured a large, stone goblet of green potion. Down on the dance floor, the music started up and the reluctant dancers got back to their business.

"Drink," he said. She wanted to fight him, but found that she didn't have the energy. She wrapped her hands around the goblet, taking it from him, and tilted it to her lips. The concoction tasted horrible but Zelda downed it, gagging and spluttering. When she was finished, she passed the goblet back to Link, who vanished it with a simple twist of his wrist. He then peeled off his leather glove and held out his bare right hand, letting it rest against the wood of the table before them. Glaring at him, Zelda removed her own left glove, careful to keep her palm down, and rested her fingertips against the hot skin at the base of his wrist.

She immediately felt his magic feeding into her, accompanied by the usual wild shock. This time, though, with skin pressed against skin, it was a thousand times worse. Zelda felt as though she'd caught a ball of lightning— something she'd been forced to do once in combative training. She could feel the electricity of him flowing up her arm and through her body. She felt it even in the back of her mouth.

"You're not mortal," she said quietly, trying to distract herself from the sensation of him. As soon as she said it, though, she realized she was right— it was no question. Her words were a statement of fact. To his credit, he remained unfazed.

"How have you come to such a conclusion?"

"Your magical core," she said simply. "It's too large for any mortal form. Even Impa's is nowhere near the size of yours."

He didn't respond. Zelda wondered if she'd angered him.

"You've led a sheltered life, Princess," Link said at last. "You'll find the world to be an incredible place once you begin to explore it."

Zelda resisted the urge to give a very unladylike snort.

"Right," she said caustically. "Because that's working out so well for me already."

Link was silent again. She followed his gaze to where her pale fingertips were pressed against the well-tanned skin of his wrist.

"How are you feeling?"

"A bit better," Zelda said. It wasn't a lie. Her magical core was surely and slowly swelling, feeding her life force. Even Sheik was looking a bit better; before, his presence had looked like mere gossamer threads. Now, he just looked like black hair wrapped around Zelda's life force.

Zelda looked at Link's masked face and wondered what laid underneath. She wondered if he was just as unreadable even without the mask. She wondered what she'd gotten herself into.

"Can I trust you?" she finally asked, spitting out the words much as she had earlier that night.

Link's blue eyes swung around to her in surprise. Zelda shifted uncomfortably in her seat under the bright scrutiny of his eyes, but didn't waver.

"…Yes," Link finally said. "You can."

"How do I know that I can trust you?" Zelda asked.

Link shifted and took her bare hand in both of his.

"That," he said quietly, "is enough about me for one night." His gloved thumb rubbed gently over the back of her knuckles. Energy pulsed through Zelda. "There are more pressing issues to deal with."

Fine, she could drop it, even if he was right. Especially if he was right. Whether or not Link was trustworthy, Zelda was stuck with him. So she might as well focus on problems she could fix.

"Makivelo," Zelda said with a frown. "How could I not have realized that he was the one draining me?"

Link didn't respond.

"It was obvious," Zelda continued. "Or, at least, it should have been obvious. Every time we danced, or every time he touched me, I came away weaker."

"The easiest place to hide something is in plain sight," Link finally said. "You didn't look to the Chancellor because it did not occur to you to do so."

"But what killed him?" Zelda mused. "He was fine one moment, and the next he was…. I mean… it _looked_ like an energy spell gone awry, but how could that be? The kind of spell to create that sort of drain on him would have been impossible to hide from even Aveil."

"I think we can both agree," Link said quietly, "that the Chancellor was likely not the mastermind behind this plan."

"But then why did he die?" If she could have, Zelda would have stood up and begun pacing. "It seemed so… so pointless. So random. And who was the man in black?" Zelda asked.

"A demigod, I believe," said Link.

Zelda's blood frosted. "You're certain?"

"Yes," Link responded, nodding his head once. "The smoke that he emitted when he vanished is typical of demigods."

"I never came across that in any of my books," mused Zelda. "But if you're sure. If he's a demigod, then that means he's probably susceptible to Light magic. But… demigods don't suck magic, do they?"

"I don't know," said Link. "But your color is good enough now that you could likely walk back to your tent if you so wished."

Zelda wondered why Link had changed the subject so abruptly. Then she saw the faint lines of weariness around his blue eyes and understood.

"Go rest," she said to Link. "I'll do the same. You won't be able to hold up your end of the deal if we're both exhausted."

"You have such faith in me, Princess," Link said sarcastically. Then he looked at her. "Would you care to guess my name?"

She didn't know if she was disappointed or relieved that her time with Link was coming to an end. The two emotions warred within her. She wondered why she was disappointed at all in the first place. She'd have to wonder about that later, assuming she lived through the week. "Give me a hint," said Zelda, to distract herself from the direction of her thoughts.

"I've given you more than enough hints for one night," Link responded.

Zelda thought about it. An immortal, from the woods, with a massive amount of power, who turned up in unexpected places. Too bad that didn't narrow her options at all.

"Loki," Zelda guessed at random, too tired to do anything but name the demigod who stirred up chaos wherever he went.

"A flattering comparison, but you've guessed incorrectly," Link said, amusement lacing his voice. Strangely, the sound reminded Zelda of the way the blue of the summer sky shone down between the leaves of tall trees. "Until tomorrow night, Princess."

"Tomorrow _night_?" asked Zelda. Link glanced at her once. Zelda had the distinct feeling he was smiling under his wolf's mask.

"Someone has to go look for Impa," he finally said.

"Don't do something stupid and get caught," she warned him. Internally, she was busy bludgeoning the instinctive worry that sprang up back into submission.

"I would never dream of it," said Link. "Good night, Princess. Sweet dreams."

"Good night," she responded. He bowed low to her once and moved into the shadows so quickly that Zelda wondered if he was a Sheikah. Shakily, she tried standing, and found that she was stronger than she ought to be after the evening she'd had. She glanced once at the King, whose attention was elsewhere, and made her way away from the dance.

Julietta appeared out of the shadows, golden hair glinting in the firelight, joy radiant in her pale blue eyes.

"You're really something," said the second princess, awe in her voice. She held out a hand for Zelda. "Let me walk you back to your tent."

"Thank you," Zelda responded, exhausted. She took Julietta's hand and the two made their way through the campgrounds.

"Listen, Zelda," Julietta said as they neared the royal pavilion. "I want to apologize for worrying you the other morning. I didn't realize that… that you were tracking a sorcerer. And anyway I think that, since Chancellor Makivelo is dead, Romio will be absolved of his debts. I think that it was the Chancellor who made the deal with Romio." Julietta turned happy eyes on her younger sister. "Because Romio was always so strange when the Chancellor was around. So you don't need to worry anymore, ok?"

"I won't," said Zelda. "I won't worry about it at all." She squeezed Julietta's hand once, reassuringly, and then turned as they arrived before her tent. "Thank you for escorting me back."

"It's my pleasure," Julietta responded. She was smiling below her mask. "I'm proud to call myself your sister. Thank you, Zelda."

"You're welcome. Good night, Julietta," said Zelda.

"Good night," Julietta replied. Zelda turned and walked into her tent, and fell onto her cot, still fully clothed, as exhaustion sucked her down into the black waters of dreamless sleep.

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><p><em>Uploaded Wednesday, January 4th, 2012, at 12:02 PM Central time <em>


	5. The Fear

_Here's the next installment. It looks like nothing is as straightforward as it seems. _

_And I'd like to make a big shout-out to my brilliant friend **CrazygurlMadness**, who (in spite of her wonderfully busy life) has been kind enough to go through this story with a fine-toothed comb and point out all my typos and plot holes. You're the best! _

_-L_

* * *

><p>"<em>Come forward, Beast."<em>

_A gargantuan creature, larger than a horse, strode forward from the woods, black body glinting in the sunlight. It was highlighted with streaks of shimmering gold that shifted and writhed, even as the body of the beast remained uncertain. In one moment, Zelda could almost believe it was a goat. In the next, it was a hawk. At last, it settled into the barely-held shape of a wolf, features shifting nonstop, fur lengthening and shortening, legs thickening and thinning seamlessly, gold moving in languid lines across its fur._

_Zelda stood in the snow, eyes on the Creature as he approached. He bowed his enormous, shaggy head, bringing his bright blue eyes level with hers. The eyes were the only thing that did not change._

_Have you made your choice, Queen of Hyrule?_

_His warm voice echoed in her mind even as he studied her._

"_I accept your bargain," she responded. "Are you ready to begin?"_

_I am._

_She peeled off her gloves, dropping them in the snow as she stepped forward to stand beside the wolf's massive neck, placing her hands on his chest. Despite its constant movement, it felt reassuringly solid. He bowed his head, and Zelda let the powerful magic fill her, running through her and into him. She willed his fur to become flesh, his legs to lengthen, his arms to shrink, even as she held it in her mind— the body of the beast that he had been. Magic poured through her, hot energy blasting through her veins, filling her, even as she continued to push it out through her palms and into his body, willing him to change form._

_Underneath her hands, fur melted into fabric, becoming solid. The immense body of the Creature surrounding her became the form of a man with his arms wrapped around her waist. The last of the power faded and with it, Zelda found herself with her palms firmly pressed against his heartbeat._

"_The blood, Queen," he said quietly, his voice just as wonderful as it had been in her mind._

"_Very well," she said, stepping back. She drew a silver dagger from the pocket of her skirt and pricked her thumb. The man held out his hand. A single crimson droplet fell onto the skin there and vanished. When he looked up, he was smiling, and Zelda felt her breath taken away. His smile was like sunshine._

"_Thank you," he said simply, his brilliantly blue eyes boring into her own as he reached for her hand with his._

Zelda had been certain she would sleep until well after noon, which was why she was so shocked to find herself wide awake at dawn and unsettled from strange dreams. She was still exhausted, but sleep eluded her. A quick check of her core showed that, while she wasn't fully back to normal, she was better than she had been since the fight with the Gohma— a process that would normally take at least a week. Sheik seemed to be doing well, too; he'd taken shape as a falcon and was perched above Zelda's bed, and looked healthy and almost opaque.

The Princess sat up, frowning at the discomfort her ball gown caused. She swung her feet out of her cot and stood, burying her toes in the fur rug that carpeted the floor of her tent. She pulled off her ball gown until she stood in nothing but her shift, and then she moved to sit on a stool and begin the work of detangling her hair.

It was soothing work, and Zelda tried to focus completely on it instead of allowing her mind to wander to the night before. Against her best attempt, a small bubble of panic rose up within Zelda. She tried to push it away, tried to forget it, but the harder she tried to not think about all that had happened, the more her mind returned to it. She tried shutting her eyes and meditating; even that trick, which had always worked for her, did her no good. Finally, she turned to the falcon, who was watching her with bright red eyes.

"Have I made a terrible mistake?" she asked.

Sheik studied her for a moment before morphing into his human form. He knelt at Zelda's feet and placed his hands on her knees.

Being touched by Sheik was always strange— it felt more like an imagined sensation than a real one. Sheik didn't often touch Zelda, though; usually, there was no need.

"You had no choice, Princess," Sheik said simply. "None."

"But maybe if I'd waited…"

"The consequences would have been disastrous," Sheik finished for her. "Though I am not an advocate for hiding from that which disturbs you, put all thoughts of Link from your mind. Dwelling on the nature of your tie to him will only distract you now, and there are much bigger dangers to be dealt with."

Zelda's comb hit a snarl in her hair. She frowned at the lance of pain that shot through her scalp. She began to work at the snarl, frowning deepening as the tangle got worse. Her hands were shaking. Sheik stood, and gently took the comb from her, and began to pull it through her tangled locks. Zelda shut her eyes and breathed deeply, forcing herself to relax.

"Let's put our heads together," she said finally, keeping her eyes still shut. "Mine and yours, and I guess everyone else's too. Let's try to figure all this out."

"Where would you like to start?"

"Chancellor Makivelo," she replied. "I know there's something about him that we're missing. Can you tell me about him, Sheik?"

"Cole Makivelo of the Peak Province was born twenty-seven years ago on the longest night of winter," Sheik began. The smooth, repetitive pull of the comb through her hair was almost hypnotic. "His mother, Veran, was a Labrynnan witch of little power, and the marriage was a political one ordered by the King. His father, Niccolo, you know."

"I do," agreed Zelda, shivering at the thought of the cunning and ruthless political strategist.

"In direct defiance of his father's wishes, Cole was raised by his mother in the country, on the family property. He spent his first sixteen years of life there, before journeying to court after the unexpected death of his mother. He resided at court until he was twenty, and then returned to the family estate upon the death of his father. In the seven years since, he has spent every Season at Court, though the majority of his time was spent residing in the country and administrating the Peak Province."

"So except for the horrible father and the foreign mother, there's not much of interest about him," mused Zelda. "Except that his mother was a witch, and she chose to remain in the countryside, where she was likely being drained… though if she was low-enough level, the drain would have been minimal. Or maybe she somehow got involved in whatever Dark Magic is going on," she added, mind skipping back to countless anecdotes she'd heard over the course of her sorceress's training about low-level wizards and magicians who had made Pacts with Creatures of Power with catastrophic results.

Rather like she had.

_Breathe, Zelda,_ she reminded herself as a stone of terror struck the back of her throat.

"That's a distinct possibility," said Sheik. "Cole Makivelo never exhibited any traceable signs of power during any of his Academy examinations, either."

Beginning at age four, every child in Hyrule was tested each year by the Royal Academy of Magicians for traces of magic. Those who had abilities, even the smallest scraps of magic, were educated; the consequences of having even a single low-level magic wielder in the country who did not know how to control his or her power could be devastating. Once a child came of age, when he or she was eighteen, the inspections stopped; magical manifestation was directly tied to growth of the body. If a child's magic had not manifested by the time that he or she reached his or her full height, no magic would manifest itself.

"The Academy never found magic, which means that the Chancellor shouldn't have had magic," mused Zelda. "Which means that he… oh," she said, her stomach dropping as something occurred to her. "What do you think the chances are that he was being used as a living _locum_?"

"A _locum _would make sense," Sheik agreed. "Whatever is in the woods likely can't get out, and so it sent Cole to act in its' stead. It would work, as well— though a _locum tenens_ is usually made of clay, it wouldn't be hard to reshape the spell with Dark Magic to use a live vessel, especially if that vessel was willing."

Strong sorcerers and sorceresses often made _locum tenens_ by hand and imbued them with magic, and left them somewhere important. Zelda had her own _locum_ in her private study back in the palace; if she so wished, she could see, hear, and cast magic using the _locum_, but only in small amounts.

It would explain everything.

"That means that, if the Chancellor was a _locum_, whatever is in the woods could see and hear everything that the Chancellor saw and heard," mused Zelda. "And it would explain why I didn't detect the magic he used— it was likely so weak, and pulled straight through him so quickly, that I wouldn't have had an opportunity to follow the trail."

"Which begs the question, Princess," said Sheik, "why Chancellor Makivelo was destroyed the way he was?"

"I don't know," Zelda said, biting on her lip. She opened her eyes and looked at Sheik through the mirror propped up on her traveling dresser. "It looked like a powerful energy control spell gone horribly, horribly wrong, but if the Chancellor wasn't the one in charge of that magic, then who did it?"

"There are three distinct possibilities," said Sheik. Zelda's hair was completely tangle-free, but he continued to comb, knowing that it soothed her. "First and foremost: that whatever was using the Chancellor as a _locum_ lost control of the spell and inadvertently sucked all of the energy out of Cole. Second: that whatever was using the Chancellor as a _locum_ intentionally drew all the energy out of Cole, for reasons unknown. Third: that it was an entity unrelated to the Chancellor that activated a high-level draining spell that either intentionally or unintentionally targeted the Chancellor alone."

Each of the possibilities was alarming. Zelda took a calming breath, trying not to feel like she was in over her head. So what if the Academy had never let her deal with a major threat before? By all accounts, she was one of the most gifted sorceresses in the Kingdom, and certainly she was the youngest sorceress to have been granted full accolades in at least a hundred years; she could do this. She _could_.

"So who was that man in black?" Zelda asked. "Do you think Link was right, and that he was a demon?"

"Yes," said Sheik. "The black smoke that was exhibited when the man disappeared is typical of demons and other powerful Dark creatures."

Zelda tried not to chew on her lips. "Why is there a demon connected to all of this?"

"I don't know, Princess," said Sheik simply. "Though there's no doubt that the demon is connected, and that whatever it is that ties the demon and the Chancellor together is susceptible to Light magic."

"Yeah," agreed Zelda, remembering the Light arrows and how they abruptly ended the battle the previous night. "Or, at least, whatever process sapped the Chancellor of all his energy made him extremely reactive to Light."

"Which is probably the best indication of Dark Energy that we're going to get," stated Sheik. "It would also tie in to the Gohma in the woods— Dark monsters tend to be symptomatic of a larger Dark presence."

Zelda shuddered. She'd forgotten about the Gohma. With everything else that had happened, the uncomfortable memories of that morning were one big, black and purple blur.

"I can't help but feel like there's something that we're missing still," said Zelda, giving voice to the nagging feeling in her stomach. "Something big. Something that should be obvious." Sheik set aside the comb at a small motion from Zelda. She began to pull her hair back into a herringbone plait— a nervous habit she'd cultivated at the Academy after unintentionally frying her hair once with a spell gone awry.

"Let's review it, then," said Sheik, moving to kneel in front of Zelda again. "The Royal Augur sends us here, to the Snow Spine, for the _Carrus Din_, breaking from a long tradition of going to Ordon. Almost immediately, you discover a spiritual spring and awaken a spirit, and possibly other magical entities in the woods. That night, the Chancellor— we believe— begins draining your energy. The next morning, you and Impa set out into the woods, and encounter a Gohma. That afternoon, you and Impa determine that there is something strange happening to all magic users, not just yourself, and Impa sets out to investigate.

"Come evening, the day's continuous drain on you is noticeably worse after brief interaction with the Chancellor. You return to bed. Sometime over the course of the next day, which is otherwise uneventful, Impa vanishes. And then yesterday, the power of the drain increased suddenly and substantially, which led to your bargain with Link. It's mere minutes after the two of you bind your magical cores together that the Chancellor is sapped of all of his energy, and the demon appears seemingly in response. The three of you fight, you dispatch the Chancellor's husk with a Light arrow, and this drives the demon away as well," said Sheik.

"It just seems like there's a puzzle piece that isn't fitting right," said Zelda, tying off the herringbone plait with a red ribbon— the color of the day. "There's a gap. There's something else— I know there's something else— I just don't know what it is."

Sheik blinked owlishly at her, and for a second Zelda swore she could see Shad looking out at her. She smiled weakly.

"Shad, can you please look for information about a demon matching the description of the one we saw last night?" asked Zelda politely, knowing that the Sheikah would receive the question through the bond they all shared. "Thank you."

"In the meantime, Princess," said Sheik, smiling at her and touching her knee again, "I suggest you pray and meditate. Perhaps the answer will come to you then."

"That sounds like a good idea," Zelda said, reaching for the bell to ring for her attendants to help her dress.

—

Murmurs had followed her around the camp all morning. Zelda was used to being stared at— it happened when one was a member of the royal family. What she wasn't used to, however, was the caution and curiosity, the just-audible whispers being passed behind held-up hands.

It didn't help that she'd been spotted coming out of Impa's tent clutching the Dark Orb that the Gohma had generated in the hopes that it possessed a clue of some sort. Even Nonmagic could recognize the Dark power that clung to it; though Zelda hurriedly stashed it in her chest in her tent, the uneasiness around her increased. Romio had been standing nearby, and though he, like Ashei, could only wield Quest, he turned distinctly green at the sight of the Orb.

As she walked through the camp to go pray at the large altar that had been set up on the southern edge of the festivities, hissing whispers followed her like the sound of the wind through the trees. Sheik sat on Zelda's shoulder in his falcon form, a visual reminder that Zelda was neither unprotected nor helpless; the two had agreed that it would likely be for the best that Sheik be physically present, in case a few of the people- peasant and noble alike- got a little too curious about just how strong their Princess was.

But even Sheik's physical presence couldn't protect Zelda from the cutting whispers that followed her like a second cloak.

"—Too powerful, it's not safe—"

"—Seen some magic before but none like that—"

"—Should thank her, but what's to keep her from going mad with it—"

"—Shouldn't even be able to walk today, maybe she's the one draining energy—"

"—And that man with her, just as terrifying—"

"—Just like all those other Sorceresses, loose women, sleeping with whomever they please—"

Zelda knew that many of the people were wary of magic— it was why all the strong magicians stuck together at the Academy, and the same reason why every other Sorcerer and Sorceress in Hyrule was a lone nomad or a hermit in the wilderness. The people were afraid of what they didn't understand, and magic was almost as inscrutable as the Goddesses, whom they revered with equal parts adoration and terror.

Zelda kept her chin held high, closing her ears to the whispers that trailed after her as she made her way toward the altar to pray, cutting an arrow-straight line down one of the larger corridors that had formed in the camp.

It wasn't a long walk, though it felt like ages. Zelda let loose a sigh of relief when she spotted the temporary temple. A massive twisted pine that was nearly as tall as the Academy tower rose from the earth like a distorted beacon. Below that, a canopied pavilion covered the altar, which was merely a long table with the customary holy candle, chalice, and wand. The three artifacts had been displayed below a small statuette of the Triforce. Zelda set down the small rug she'd been carrying over one arm, spreading it out on the ground before the altar. Behind her, the people still watched. Zelda didn't so much as flinch when Sheik alighted from her shoulder and transformed into a man. Completely solid today, he crossed his arms and fixed his watchful ruby stare on the quietly shifting crowd. Zelda turned her mind away from what was going on behind her, trusting in Sheik to keep her safe, and instead fixed her eyes on the holy relics. Then she began to count her breaths, breathing in the blessings of the Goddesses, and breathing out all of her ills and worries.

She fell easily into prayerful meditation. Though the _Carrus_ was a fiasco, it still was a _Carrus_, and the Goddesses had to be honored and tended to.

Zelda began to slowly cycle through the series of prayers that needed to be said that day. She was getting an unusually early start; most people tended to begin their prayer sometime after lunch, and it was still early morning. However, Zelda was determined to have a good, long go at it. She wanted to pray, and she wanted to meditate, and hopefully she'd figure something out during one of the two.

Her lips shaped the first of her ten holy chants for the day, voice a low hum, as she slid easily into the rhythm and cadence of Ancient Hylian. It was a beautiful language, though Zelda would have argued otherwise when she was up to the tips of her ears in conjugation charts while studying at the Academy. But now, the words came easily; though she'd memorized the sounds of the chant easily as a child, she was thrilled to know the actual meaning and nuances, courtesy of her studies.

Her first prayer was to Light.

"_O, Light of the Goddesses, _

_Which burns in the eyes and the soul,_

_O, Light, guiding Light,_

_Give unto me your blessings…_"

The soft song fell easily from her lips out into the air. The melody was soothing. Zelda let it wash over her, hands clasped in her lap, as she focused herself completely on the prayer and on her breath. It was her, the song, and the Goddesses; right now, there was nothing else in the world. No monsters. No missing Impa. No Link.

Time passed in a haze. Zelda slid easily through the songs, each of which was no more than five minutes: Light, Earth, Fire, Water, Shadow, Spirit, Farore, Nayru, Din, and Unity.

Her throat was tired from so long singing, and Zelda had lapsed into silent meditation when she became aware of a presence next to her on her blanket. She exhaled deeply, signed the holy trinity over herself, and turned to look at the praying form of the Queen sitting beside her, eyes lowered, hands clasped in her lap, clearly deep in prayer.

The Queen looked, as always, beautiful; her inky hair streaked with thin lines of silver had been tied up in a knot, and her violet eyes were offset by her red dress and golden tunic. Her faintly-wrinkled skin remained unblemished by the sun. The Queen looked peaceful, as always. Behind her, her two guards waited calmly; Sheikahs only came to those who were born royal. Men and women who married in to the royal family had to protect themselves the weaker way, with body guards.

It was no later than eleven in the morning, by Zelda's estimation. She was still the only one in the altar pavilion, except for the Queen, and for Sheik, who was flying loopy circles up above the pavilion. All onlookers had trickled away.

"When I was a girl," began the Queen in her surprisingly deep voice, startling Zelda with the suddenness of her speech, "I wanted nothing more than to be able to do incredible, wonderful, beautiful things. But I had no magic, and as the daughter of an Earl, I was not allowed to follow the road I wanted to choose for myself. When I was selected to become the Queen-Consort, I was both overjoyed and terrified. All that I wished to do was to make Hyrule a better place.

"I prayed every night to the Goddesses for their mercy, benevolence, and guidance, that I might make a positive impact upon the lives of our people. I didn't know how I would do such a thing, because as the Queen-Consort I have little solitary power. But then the Goddesses gave me four beautiful daughters, each stronger than I had been, and braver than I had been, and able to follow their souls' passions without falling into the trap of their rank.

"Your powers, and the miraculous things that you do, are a gift from the Goddesses. I know that they heard my prayer, and that each of my daughters is a response to that plea. When I pass to the Sacred Realm, I will be able to go in peace knowing that I made Hyrule a better place by bringing you and your sisters into it."

Zelda didn't know what to say. She looked for a moment at her mother's profile, unsure of how to proceed.

"Never doubt yourself, Zelda," said Ambi, opening her violet eyes and turning to look at her daughter. "You are incredibly gifted, talented, and kind. The Goddesses have given you power to better the world, the courage to use it, and the wisdom to do so wisely. Their grace is present in all ways within you."

Zelda smiled, feeling better than she had all morning.

"Thank you, Mother," she said quietly, touching the Queen's right hand gently with her own left one. Their hands were both bare, gloves folded before them, as dictated by tradition. The Queen gently lifted Zelda's left hand and turned it over to reveal the four long scars that cut across her palm, one extending from below each of her fingers.

"Were you maimed by a beast?" the Queen asked softly, touching the middle scar with one blunt-tipped finger. "These look like claw marks."

"All magic has its' consequences," Zelda answered, which wasn't really an answer at all. In fact, this was the first look that Zelda had gotten at the scars from her bonding with Link. It _did_ look as though she'd been clawed by a beast. She wondered how Link had made those cuts. She wondered why he'd made her close her eyes.

"Have faith in the Goddesses," the Queen said, using two hands to close Zelda's long fingers into a loose fist, effectively disrupting the inevitable rise of panic within the Princess. "The Goddesses have faith in you."

Zelda nodded once. The Queen smiled faintly then, and patted Zelda's cheek once and returned her attention to the altar.

"Lunch will be ready soon in the Royal Pavilion," she said . "I have recently eaten, but thought that you ought to be informed, as the servants said you did not have breakfast this morning."

It was true. Her stomach had been too upset. Zelda nodded once.

"Remember," said the Queen softly. "The Goddesses have a plan."

"I'll remember it," said Zelda, smiling at her mother. She gracefully stood up from the prayer blanket, curtseyed to the altar, and then curtseyed deeply to the Queen. "Thank you again," she said.

"You're welcome, daughter," the Queen responded.

As Zelda walked slowly from the pavilion, deep in thought, Sheik dropped from the sky and shifted into his human form, then fell into step beside her.

"Any word from Impa?" she asked quietly.

"None yet, Lady," said Sheik. "There have been no changes."

Zelda sighed. She'd figured as much.

"Do you feel anything from Link?" Sheik asked. "That bond may be well worth inspecting."

In truth, Zelda had been hesitant to do so. Reluctantly, she turned her gaze inward for a moment, and stopped with shock. What had been a single strand of glossy green ivy the night before was, by day, a thick vine that had been covered with blood red thorns and vicious looking spines.

"Sheik," said Zelda, shaken, "what does this mean?"

She looked at his face to see his wine-colored eyes unfocus temporarily.

"Ah," he said, voice low and understanding. "I see."

"What? Explain it to me, because it doesn't make any sense," hissed Zelda, alarm making her pulse beat faster.

"There's no need for distress, Princess," Sheik said, voice soothing. "Please take a moment to inspect the bond again. Closely this time."

Zelda did so. The vine was hideous, an evil-looking grayish green. But it was barely touching her magical core at all; the night before, the ivy had been inextricably tangled with the intertwined strands of Zelda's magical core and life force. Today, the thick vine touched Zelda's core only once, at its' base, and then spread outwards, almost as though it was afraid to touch the magical core… or as though it was shielding it.

"You of all people know," said Sheik as Zelda returned her focus outward, "that appearances can be deceiving."

"What does it mean, though?" asked Zelda, curious and frustrated and still the slightest bit perturbed.

"It means," said Sheik calmly, "that once this is all over with, you and Link will likely need to sit down and have a very… illuminating chat."

Zelda shook her head, then picked up the pace again and began winding down the main path of the camp towards the Royal Pavilion.

"You know something that I don't," muttered Zelda.

"I know many things that you don't, Princess," responded Sheik. "And I know many things that you will one day come to know. You need to come to discover the answers to life's mysteries on your own."

It wasn't the first time Sheik had used that line on her, but she still _hated_ him for it.

"You're horrible," groused Zelda.

"No sulking, my Lady," reprimanded Sheik, his voice lightly teasing— a habit he had doubtless picked up from his impish charge. "It's most unbecoming."

They stepped through the protective rim of guards into the Royal Pavilion and Zelda released a breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding. She almost hadn't been aware of the suspicious whispers and accusing eyes that followed her back from the altar to the pavilion. Almost.

"_There_ you are," said Aveil, bouncing up to Zelda, red dress perfectly matched with her crimson hair. She looked stunning. Tetra popped up by Aveil's elbow, curious black eyes on Zelda. "We've been looking everywhere for you! Well, not quite, but we've been wondering where you went, and were just about to pluck up the courage to do something really admirable and brave, like send a servant to find you. Lunch is nearly ready!"

"Where did you go?" Tetra asked, coming to stand on one of Zelda's sides while Aveil took her position on the other, like some kind of guards. Sheik melted back into shadow.

"To the altar pavilion," Zelda said. "I wanted to say my prayers early today, and do some meditation."

"I see," murmured Tetra, even as Aveil wrinkled her nose.

"I don't know how you can do that meditation business," she groused. "It's so… sedative."

"Boring," chimed Tetra.

And just like that, Zelda knew that with her sisters, at least, everything remained unchanged. On impulse, Zelda threw one arm around each sister and dragged them together for a group hug. Aveil and Tetra both squeaked in shock even as Zelda squeezed.

"Thank you," she said gratefully. Tetra patted Zelda's hair in understanding, while Aveil spluttered.

"What on Earth has gotten _in_ to you?" she asked, even as she hugged Zelda back. "Who are you and what have you done with our prickly, vexatious Princess Zelda?"

Zelda giggled, then let go of Aveil and Tetra.

"Lunch?" she asked, looking eagerly from one sister to the other.

"Lunch," Tetra agreed, and the three set off towards the dining tent.

—

The one benefit to everyone being terrified of her, Zelda mused to herself as Link twirled her in his arms that night, was that there were minimal interruptions from unwanted persons. Though the evening was young, they'd already danced twice, and talked of nothing; Link seemed moody and introspective that evening, a far cry from his usual teasing, charismatic self. He was pensive, and often quiet; Zelda wondered why she had such a burning urge to lift him up out of whatever gloom it was that was eating at him. She'd blame it on the bond. That was the least complicated explanation.

Dinner had been an awkward affair. The royal table often received a few stares, but this evening the bulk of the people's attention had been on Zelda, who had done her best to talk to Aveil with poise— a difficult feat even when alone. It didn't help that Tetra egged both the girls on in turn, when she wasn't trying to keep up with Ashei and Romio's drinking contest. Julietta seemed oblivious of the attention and instead was gossiping animatedly with Daphnes's wife Felicia (who participated with some reluctance and an equal amount of intrigue), while Saria and Tarin talked about plants, and Daphnes discussed politics with the King. The royal family was acting as though nothing had happened, and while it was nice, Zelda would have appreciated a little more help in the 'keeping calm' department than Aveil and Tetra tended to provide.

The thick vine that was Link's bond to her had reverted to ivy sometime between dinner and the time that Link appeared before Zelda, silent behind his wolf's mask, eyes burning like blue fire, gloved hand extended. Zelda had taken it immediately, without a word, and Link had pulled her out onto the dance floor. He stood closer than was strictly necessary, though not close enough to cause a scandal; his hands were hot on her. For some reason, Zelda was fairly certain that something was going on in his head and, if nothing else, he needed the reassurance of physical contact.

Or maybe Zelda was just imagining that tension in him. It was difficult— with everyone's eyes on them, following the two around the dance floor as though they might spring into another battle any second, it was hard to feel relaxed. Zelda, at least, was familiar with being stared at. She had the distinct impression that Link was not. He was wound up tighter than a spring, and radiating agitation. If the shifting of the people all around them was any indication, Zelda wasn't the only one feeling the effects of his brooding.

"I think you're worrying everyone," she said softly, trying to get Link's attention. He merely grunted in response.

"Any luck today?" she tried again, readjusting her hand on his shoulder, letting her fingers flutter against him in what she hoped was a soothing caress.

"Is that your question for this dance?" Link asked, clearly distracted.

"You can't see it because I'm wearing a mask, but I'm pouting right now," teased Zelda, instead of giving way to the urge to smack him. "I have too many questions and there aren't enough dances tonight to cover all of them. That simply isn't fair, Link."

Link's blue eyes, which had been hazy and distracted, snapped down to focus on Zelda's face. He saw her watching him with part caution and part humor, and his whole body relaxed under Zelda's hands.

"My apologies, Princess," he sighed. "I'm a bit occupied this evening."

"I hadn't noticed," said Zelda dryly.

"I found traces of Impa's power in the woods," Link said without preamble. "She was alive and well yesterday evening."

"You're quite certain?" Zelda asked, hope rising within her.

"Absolutely," responded Link. "Though her magic was tangled up with a strong binding spell, which likely explains why you've had no word from her."

"I'm not sure whether or not I'm relieved," said Zelda, though her fingers tightened on his hand in a squeeze of silent thanks. "Though it is good to know she is alive, what kind of spell could hold her so effectively for so long?"

"A number of spells," Link said a little absently, hands moving to Zelda's waist as he lifted her briefly as the dance called for. She put both her hands on his shoulders for support and looked down at him, enjoying the temporary change in height. It was over quickly, though, and his hands were back where they belonged. Zelda wasn't disappointed at all. Not even in the slightest. "They're all old spells, too— very old magic, probably not even written down anymore. One way to do it would be through a talisman of some sort, like an ofuda, or wrapping sutra beads around her. Another might be through a song of sealing." His voice took on a musing tone.

"Song of sealing?" Zelda asked, hoping that Link wasn't keeping track of all these questions.

"If you know the right syllables and the right notes and the right rhythm, you can do just about anything," said Link. "Sound is tied to some of the most powerful magic. Think about your Words of Power."

"That makes sense, I guess," said Zelda slowly. "But why haven't I ever heard about it before?"

Link shrugged.

"Mortal memories fade quickly," he said simply. "Even written words begin to deteriorate."

"How old are you again?" asked Zelda, hoping to catch Link off guard. Blue eyes latched onto her own, amused and curious.

"That's not my question, don't answer it," she said, cutting him off before he could speak.

"Then what is your question?" His voice was light now. Zelda found herself relaxing, too. How did he to it to her? She didn't understand.

"What is the evil that's waiting in the woods?"

Behind his mask, Link's expression darkened. The music ended. He bowed low as Zelda curtseyed.

"Though I know its' name and its' face, I am unable to tell you," he said, voice honest and angry. "For the same reason that I am unable to supply you with my own name."

"You're tied to it in some way," mused Zelda. "Right? You're connected to it somehow? But… you're not part of it, are you?"

"I take no pleasure in my association with the _thing_ that is eating the woods," spat Link. He calmed himself then, and touched Zelda's hand gently. "Do not worry, Princess. I will not betray you to what lies in wait in the shadows. But it looks like you have a young admirer waiting for you. I'll find you later tonight."

He strode off through the crowd as Zelda turned to see what he was talking about when he said 'young admirer'. Tarin was waiting patiently a short distance away. Behind him, his father watched with proud eyes.

"Will you dance with me, Aunt Zelda?" said Tarin, bowing far lower than was necessary. "It would be an honor to dance with you after the way you saved us all from the monster yesterday."

Zelda found herself grinning below her mask. Bless Tarin.

"Of course I'll dance with you," she said to the little boy. Tarin's gap-toothed grin split his face below his keaton's half-mask and he stepped forward to take Zelda's hands for a sprightly gavotte.

"You're so amazing, Aunt Zel," Tarin began chattering. "I don't know what everyone is all upset about. You saved us from that weird guy in black, and that magic that you did was so cool, and I want to be just like you when I grow up," he added. "Except I don't have any magic but I wish I did."

"Magic is a big responsibility," Zelda told Tarin. "It takes lots of work, and it's not very fun. When I was your age, I had to meditate for an hour every day."

"Ew," said Tarin, wrinkling his nose. He'd tried meditating with Zelda once, and it had ended poorly for the little boy. "Maybe I don't want to be a sorcerer."

"You're going to be King someday, though," Zelda told the young boy. "So you need to make sure that you study hard, and learn to use a sword, and one day everyone will look up to you because they'll know you'll be a wise and strong King."

"You'll help me, right, Aunt Zel?" Tarin asked. "You'll be my Head Sorceress?"

Zelda smiled below her mask.

"If I'm still around, you betcha I'll be your right-hand gal," she said.

"I asked Dad why people weren't dancing with you and Dad told me that it was because they were afraid of you," said Tarin. "Which is stupid, because you were the one that saved us. So I figured I'd dance with you because I'm just a kid, and if I'm not scared of you then they shouldn't be either."

Zelda laughed. "You'll be a just King, too, I can tell."

"I'm gonna be the best King ever," Tarin responded, chest puffing up with pride. "After Grampa and Dad, anyway."

Zelda stomped down the tiny surge of envy that this child knew her father better than she did. It wasn't anyone's fault that Zelda had all but been raised by the Academy. But she still felt a little like an outsider.

"You didn't get in the way of any of those spells last night, did you?" Zelda asked suddenly.

"No," said Tarin, sounding a little concerned. "Why? Is there something wrong with me?"

"No, only…." Zelda paused, looking at Tarin with concern. "I think you just grew about an inch as I was watching you."

"Nuh-uh," said Tarin. "No way."

"Are you sure you didn't catch any of those spells on accident?" asked Zelda seriously. "Because I'm pretty sure I threw a stretching jinx at that bad guy."

"Definitely not," said Tarin emphatically. "But do you think you could put a spell on me to make me tall? That would be so cool."

Zelda laughed and angled her upper body down so Tarin could spin her properly. He was still on the shrimpy side, but growing like a weed; she was certain he would be at least as tall as his father, who was a full head taller than Zelda.

"No can do, Kiddo," responded Zelda. "That would be cheating."

Underneath his keaton mask, Zelda could see Tarin pouting.

"What if you made a tall potion and just left it somewhere and I happened to find it and drank it?" tried Tarin.

"Daphnes Tarin Nohansen," said Zelda severely, "Promise me that you will absolutely never, _ever_ drink a potion that you find lying around."

"Why not?" asked Tarin.

"Because you don't know what it could do," she responded. "It might poison you, or worse!"

"What's worse than poisoning?" Tarin asked.

"Your arms could fall off," said Zelda. "You could grow a second nose, or not be able to communicate except through singing."

"Yuck," said Tarin. "Ok, I promise. No potion drinking."

"Swear it," said Zelda firmly, though she was secretly amused.

"I swear I'll never drink a potion if I find it lying around or don't know what it is," he said.

"Good," responded Zelda. "And if you do find a potion lying around, or someone gives you a potion and you don't know what it is, bring it to me and we'll figure it out together, ok?"

"Ok," said Tarin. The dance ended. He bowed and Zelda curtseyed. Then, in a wonderfully childish move, Tarin threw his arms around Zelda in a big hug.

"Thanks for the dance, Aunt Zel," he said. "You're the best."

"No," said Zelda, touching Tarin's hair fondly. "_You're_ the best."

Tarin's little ploy worked, though it was a little unfortunate that, at least initially, she danced with the men of her family: her father congratulated her on her bravery during a foxtrot, Romio came out of his uncharacteristic silence to tell Zelda solemnly that she was extraordinary during a rondo, and Daphnes grabbed Zelda for a rousing farandole, and Zelda even danced a minuet with Saria's handsome fiancé Fado, the impish duke of Ordon.

The Shaman of Kakariko, Renado, stepped up after Zelda finished with Fado, and bowed low as he asked for the honor of a dance. The title of Shaman meant that Renado was both an educated leader and a competent magician; during the dance, he complemented Zelda on her exquisite control of her magic, as well as on her ability to dance lightly. This seemed to seal the deal for the rest of the nobility; Zelda was never without a partner.

"Look at you," said Tetra to Zelda at the very end of the night as the youngest princess stood to one side of the floor, fanning herself. "You're the most popular girl on the dance floor tonight."

"It's all Tarin's doing," replied Zelda, watching Saria, Fado, Julietta, and Romio dancing a lively quadrille together, their hands all joined as they danced in a circle. Saria's energy seemed to be flagging, though she was laughing even as she stumbled along. "The scheming little brat."

"He's growing up so well," said Tetra, looping one arm through Zelda's. "But, listen. I have something serious I need to talk to you about."

"What's up?" asked Zelda, turning to look at her sister.

"You still haven't told us anything at all about the hunky guy in the wolf's mask who you keep dancing with," said Tetra. "And he's a sorcerer and you didn't say anything about that, either, and I haven't ever seen him dance with anyone else at all."

"Tet…" Zelda started apologetically.

"I mean I know how you are about all your magic stuff, but you're way too closemouthed anyway for your own good," Tetra said. "I'm your sister. We're not just the Princess squad or something, we're sisters and I know you're not very close to our parents, but I'm here for you and so is everyone else, so share your secrets with us for once," she added. "I'm not lecturing you or anything, I just want you to know that we all love you, and you have seriously got to tell us every single detail about that guy, and that if you don't spring for him, one of us will, because he's sinfully well built."

It wasn't the most bizarre sisterly speech Zelda had ever heard, but it came close.

"Once all this is over, I will answer every question you have for me with as much honesty as possible," Zelda said finally. "Ok?"

"You'd better," responded Tetra. Her eyes focused on something over Zelda's shoulder. "But I've kept you too long. He's waiting for you." Tetra winked at Zelda and then flounced away. Zelda turned. Link was waiting patiently several steps away.

"How much of that did you hear?" she asked, resigning herself to humiliation.

"Enough," said Link lightly.

"How much am I allowed to tell them about you?" Zelda asked. "Because I know barely anything at all."

"It's up to your discretion," Link responded. "Dance the last waltz with me?"

Waltzes, waltzes. It was always waltzes, damn him.

"Of course," Zelda responded, and let him lead her out onto the dance floor.

"I hope you've been having a nice evening," said Zelda.

"It would have been better spent with you," responded Link bluntly. Zelda looked up at his face in surprise but his expression was completely inscrutable behind his wolf's mask. She wondered again what he looked like.

"You're very straightforward this evening," she spluttered.

"Someone drained your energy again."

His voice was a low growl, dangerous and angry. Zelda gaped.

"What?" she asked. "How? But the Chancellor is… I didn't even notice… How could that be possible?"

"I've been sustaining you," Link responded. "But someone pulled on your magic. I've felt tiny traces of Dark Magic out here this evening, but tracking it has been infuriating— to many people in too small a space."

"But I thought… wasn't Cole the one?"

"Possibly," murmured Link thoughtfully. "Or this may be another accomplice."

"But how do you know that someone was draining from me? What makes you so certain?"

"You've got traces of Dark Magic on you," Link said. "Someone touched you with a draining spell. Recently."

Zelda was flabbergasted. She couldn't believe it.

"But Makivelo's dead," she blurted out.

"I know," responded Link. "But whoever is pulling from you must be close to the Royal Family to be able to interact with you so frequently. Perhaps a servant, or a nobleman."

Zelda was still speechless, mind whirling.

"Breathe, Princess," Link said soothingly. "We'll figure this out."

"The festival ends the day after tomorrow, Link," said Zelda. "I'm running out of time to destroy whatever is in the woods."

"I know," Link said quietly. "I'll have a plan of action ready for us tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow _night_?" Zelda's voice was rising in frustration. "No, Link, that's too long."

"It's the best I can do," he said, exasperation leaking through his own voice. "If I could be there sooner, I would, but I simply can't. It is _literally_ impossible, and don't ask me why."

"Is this another one of your cryptic, 'I can't talk about it' things?" Zelda asked, displeasure lacing her voice.

"Yes, damn it, it is," Link bit back. "Do you think I enjoy tormenting you?"

"You're supposed to be helping me, but all it feels like you're doing is playing cat and mouse," snapped Zelda. "How can I stop whatever's in the woods if you won't tell me how?"

"Well _excuse_ me, Princess," snarled Link. "I'd love to tell you how. By Din, I'd love to do it myself, but I can't. I need your help, and you need my help, so it seems like we're stuck together, miserable as that may be for each of us."

The waltz ended. Zelda ripped herself out of Link's arms.

"Here's my guess for your name," she snapped. "How does 'Worthless Ass' sound?"

"You've guessed incorrectly, Princess," responded Link. "Until tomorrow night. Be careful until then, my Lady. I won't be able to come running to your rescue."

Zelda spun and stormed off.

"Zelda," said Saria, falling into step behind her youngest sister quietly as the seventh princess stomped towards the royal pavilion, "There's something I need to talk to you about."

Zelda stamped down a rise of irritation as she looked at Saria's serious, lined face. "What's up?" asked Zelda, trying to shake herself from violent thoughts about a certain idiotic man in a wolf mask.

"I don't think the drain has stopped," she said. "I feel shaky and weak. Worse than I ever did earlier."

This jerked Zelda out of daydreams of dismemberment.

"When did this start?" Zelda asked. Saria shrugged.

"Sometime over the course of the evening," she responded, brushing at her chestnut locks with a gloved hand. Her cheeks were pale. "I felt fine at dinner, but sometime during the dance it started. I don't know when."

"And what about Ashei?" Zelda asked, grabbing Saria's arm and looping it through her own.

"Went to bed just before I came to get you," Saria said shakily. "She looked about as bad as I feel, and not because of the wine she had. She said the drain on her started several hours ago and she couldn't stand up anymore."

"Let me loan you some of my energy," Zelda said quietly as they made it into the royal pavilion. Saria removed her arm from Zelda's, stepping back.

"No," Saria said simply. "I don't want it. Neither does Ashei. You need it more than we do."

"Sar…" said Zelda quietly. Saria shook her head again in an emphatic no.

"You seem to be doing ok, which is good," Saria said. "And you need to stay that way. Ashei and I both know that you're going to fight that sorcerer we saw yesterday, and you're going to need all your strength. We just wanted to tell you what was going on. I'm going to drink some green potion and go to bed, though, and I'll be right as rain tomorrow."

"If your magical core gets too low it'll start pulling on your life force," tried Zelda. "Please, let me help you."

Saria cast her forest-green eyes on her youngest sister. "If your magical core gets too low, you'll die," Saria responded. "Ashei and I will both be fine even if we get completely drained. For us, it will be no worse than a bad cold. But you needed to know. Good night, Zelda," she said, and pushed her way into her green tent.

Zelda stood there, flabbergasted and furious. Ashei and Saria didn't know about her bond with Link, and they didn't know that the man in black was more than just a sorcerer. What would they say if she told them? For a moment, Zelda thought about going after her sisters, but instead shook her head. She looked around and saw the royal guards carefully not watching her. She sighed.

"Before you start wondering," she said simply, knowing the guards were listening even if they would never respond, "I'm warding their tents, not casting some sort of evil, demonic spell on them, and if you tell anyone outside of the Royal Family that I warded their tents, I _personally_ will turn you into Ordon goats."

That small bit of business out of the way, Zelda set about casting on the wards, unscrupulously drawing on Link's magic to do so. She was still mad at him, but she pushed her irritation out of her mind as she spoke Words of Power and cast the wards. She set up Aveil's ward first: North, South, East, and West all received their own barrier points, and then Zelda wrapped a ward around them and sealed it cleanly at the top with a knot of magic. The same process was repeated for Saria's tent. The whole process took ten minutes total, leaving Zelda a little more tired, but feeling better. She'd wanted to pull on Link's magic far more than necessary, but all her training screamed at her to not be sloppy with her spell casting, and so she'd left everything very neat and clean.

To finish up the wards, Zelda spoke a Word of Power over each, one that ought to keep any Dark Magic, Seeking Magic, or any other malevolent spells from getting into either girl's tent. Of course, the second Saria and Ashei each awoke, they'd sense the wards, be furious, and force Zelda to take them down; but at least this way, they would each get a good night's sleep.

Satisfied, Zelda walked into her tent and shut the flap behind her. It was dark, but she knew her way around well by now. Sheik appeared as she began to remove her gown.

"Neither Louise nor Kotake were aware at any point of a draining spell being placed on their charges," Sheik said. "Moreover, they've both exhausted themselves by keeping the Princesses supplied with magical energy," he added. "They thank you for the wards."

"Are we going to come out of this in one piece, Sheik?" Zelda asked, pulling her shift over her shoulders and pulling on a night chemise over her smallclothes. "Did I put my faith in the wrong person?"

"Link is our greatest chance of success," Sheik said simply. "For better or worse, you've bound him to yourself."

"I wish he would just tell me what's going on," Zelda replied, dropping onto her cot and burying her head in her knees. "I wish he could. All of this waiting is making me antsy, Sheik."

"I will train with you tomorrow," he said simply. "So that when Link comes to you with a plan tomorrow night, you will be ready."

"Thank you," said Zelda. She quickly pulled her hair into a plait and flopped back onto her cot. "You're wonderful, Sheik."

"I am as the Goddesses made me," he responded with a bow of his head. "Now sleep, Princess. You don't know when you'll get your next chance."

"Good night, Sheik," Zelda said quietly.

"Good night, Princess," he said. He transformed and perched above Zelda's bed, watchful in the darkness, and the youngest Princess fell slowly into sleep, lulled into dreams by the lullaby of his quietly shifting feathers.

* * *

><p>Uploaded Saturday, January 14th, 2012, at 1:24 PM Central<p> 


	6. The Beast

It was the incredible, immaculate nothingness that woke her.

She sat up suddenly, or at least tried to, but found that her arms and legs were too heavy to move. She was weak. She had never felt so weak, or so cold. Her breath came panting gusts from between her lips. She tried to croak for help but couldn't. A glance upward verified that Sheik was gone. Zelda focused inward— when had it become so difficult?— and was stunned to see her magical core almost totally drained, Sheik a mere hint of a shadow of a cobweb wrapped around the swiftly thinning strands of Zelda's core.

It was still dark. It was either very late, or very early. Zelda couldn't tell which. Her heart began to beat faster. Oh, Goddesses, she was dying. She was going to die. She'd had that stupid fight with Link, and he was angry at her, and he wouldn't be able to save her, and she was going to die here in this tent in the middle of the wilderness.

It was fear and adrenaline that allowed her to roll off her cot and onto the floor, though she wasn't much better off there. Terrified and exhausted and fighting slumber, Zelda tried to crawl to the chest full of green potions, but couldn't find the energy to move that far. It was so close— it was at the foot of her bed— why couldn't she reach it?

She felt like crying or screaming. She didn't want to die. She wasn't ready to die. She was _not_ going to die.

Hardly thinking about what she was doing, she grabbed onto the ivy vine wrapped around her core and _pulled_ as hard as she could.

She felt a little warm energy flood her, enough for her to get to the chest at the bottom of the bed. She reached in and grabbed the strongest vial of green potion she could find, and drained it, gagging and spluttering. She grabbed a second one, drained it too, and then finished off the cocktail with a red potion. Exhausted, panting, and feeling sick, Zelda crawled to the flap of her tent.

She'd expected that she was under the attack of a mere energy spell, which didn't prepare her at all for what she saw as soon as she crawled outside. The sight made her stomach heave, though she fought valiantly to keep down the potions she'd just ingested.

The body of an enormous man, taller than most of the twisted pines, hung upside-down from the blackness in the sky, bound in chains of bone. The length of his spinal column was exposed, enormous discs of white glinting in the firelight. Where his head ought to be, though, there was nothing but the oozing stump of a neck, into which a great red eye had been mounted within strips of trailing, shredded flesh. The figure's arms (which were free from the chain) had also been amputated just below the elbows, though two enormous hands, each with fingers longer than Zelda was tall, floated below it. The creature's mottled, purple-green flesh was clearly made up completely with Dark Magic, though Zelda was quite sure that the white bone chain and the bone of the spine were both human in origin.

"Goddesses," whispered Zelda, crawling forward. "Oh, Goddesses."

The two hands were twisting and turning in a sinister way, beckoning to her tent. The mutilated bodies of several Royal Guards littered the ground; Zelda wondered what had happened to them until she saw the mess on the palms of the figure's hands. She wasn't able to hold it together any longer after that; all the nasty potion she'd downed came back up in one horrible rush.

She felt weak. This creature had come here to harvest the energy from her. What was she compared to such power? She was nothing.

Without the potions in her stomach, she could feel her energy trickling away much more acutely. Using what little she had left, Zelda summoned her bow and a Light arrow, and shot at the creature's eye. It dodged so fast that Zelda didn't even see it move; it was simply there one minute, and gone the next, and her Light arrow- her last bit of magic- was clattering uselessly to the ground.

"Help me," she whispered, trying not to cry. "Somebody, Goddesses, please, help me."

Her head was growing heavy. Her arms gave out from underneath her and Zelda collapsed. This was it. She'd failed.

A roar split the air. Zelda remained awake just long enough to see a man— a familiar man in a wolf's mask— appear from nowhere, armed with a massive, gleaming sword.

"Link," she breathed, feeling relieved. He was here. She would be ok.

She was going to owe him for this.

She fell headfirst into the darkness.

—

"Come on, Zelda, open your eyes."

She lifted slowly out of the blackness, only to be met with the moonlit face of a wolf with brilliantly blue eyes.

"You're still wearing your mask," she said, exhausted. "Why is it so cold?"

"I've brought you to the Sacred Spring," said Link, voice giddy with relief. "You're completely submerged in the water."

Well, that explained the knives stabbing at the marrow of her bones, and also all the starlit silhouettes trees she saw above her head. It was still dark.

"What happened?"

"You were attacked," Link said quietly. Zelda realized he was sitting on the bottom of the spring, and that she was lying across his knees, and that his hands were on her face. His thumb was stroking her cheek as though he wasn't fully aware of the little motion. "A Dark Creature was sent to harvest all your energy."

"Just mine? Are the others ok? Saria and Ashei?"

"They're fine," Link said soothingly. "Even if you hadn't warded their tents as thoroughly as you did, I suspect the Creature was sent after you and you alone."

"It was horrible," Zelda whispered as slow memories came trickling back to her. "That monster. What was it?"

Link was running his hands through Zelda's hair comfortingly. "A Bongo Bongo," he said softly.

Zelda had heard of them, of course. The name had always struck her as vaguely ridiculous. But there weren't words horrible enough to describe the monster. She curled towards Link's stomach, seeking out the comforting heat of him even as she began to shiver.

"It's cold," she said, voice quaking as she shivered. "Can't we get out of the water?"

"Not yet," Link responded. "The guardian spirit is replenishing your life force."

"I nearly died, didn't I?" Zelda asked. Link didn't respond, but his silence spoke volumes. She rolled back onto her back, looking up at Link's masked face. "How bad?"

He let out a shaky breath. "Bad," he finally said. "I was worried I hadn't gotten you here in time."

Zelda reached up with one hand to touch Link's masked cheek. "Thank you," she said to him. "For saving my life."

"You're welcome," he responded, looking down at her.

She traced her fingers across the smooth contours of the wolf's mask, partly to distract herself from the biting cold of the water. "Why are you still wearing this?" she asked.

He didn't answer, only watched her with those incredible blue eyes.

"Can I take it off?" she asked, voice a mere breath.

He inclined his head once, then hesitated. "Be careful," he said. "It's magic."

The mask wasn't attached to him by any sort of ribbon— there was just mask and flesh. Zelda framed his face with her hands and ran her fingers along the place where porcelain met skin, marveling at the rugged texture of the side of his face. Carefully, Zelda slipped her nails below the edge of the mask. Link stiffened.

"Tell me if I need to stop," she whispered. "Tell me if I hurt you."

Gently, she began to pull. Link was sitting very, very still. She felt the lower portion of the mask giving, though the top remained firmly in place. She moved her hands down to his jaw and pulled at the mask there. It rolled off his skin slowly, peeling back and curling like the thin skin of a fruit, though it felt as solid and firm as marble. The going was slow, but it gave Zelda something to focus on beyond the cold of the spring's water. It felt like her bones had been replaced with ice, though she could feel her life force rapidly replenishing.

Finally, she could see his mouth, though the mask remained firmly in place above that. The lower portion of the mask, which Zelda had been able to roll away, slid off into nothingness, until Link was sitting there in a porcelain half mask.

He had a strong jaw, Zelda noticed. It was smooth, though not too square— it was almost a little boyish. His mouth was serious, though there was a tiny quirk at the corners of his lips that hinted at his teasing good humor.

"There," said Zelda quietly, stroking her fingers across his lips. "That has to be better."

"Much," responded Link. His voice was husky. "Thank you." The way his lips moved under her fingers gave her the shivers.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier tonight," hummed Zelda, thinking back to their fight. "I was unkind."

"You have nothing to apologize for," responded Link as Zelda moved her hands to rest on his shoulders. "All is forgiven."

Oh, Din take it.

Summoning energy she thought she hadn't had, she pulled herself up in one smooth movement and locked her lips to his. Link stiffened for a moment, before wrapping his arms around her and hauling her more firmly into his lap. Zelda didn't care that she was cold and wet and so was he, because her whole body felt like it had been suffused with lightning. Her blood had been transformed into pure fire. She was kissing Link, and he was kissing her back, and she was pretty sure that nothing had ever felt this good before.

Link's hand slid up the curve of Zelda's ribs and she gasped. He took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, filling Zelda with all sorts of wonderful, warm feelings. She certainly wasn't cold anymore. In fact, she was hot. Hotter than she'd ever felt in her life. She had the urge to grab Link and drag him somewhere dry and do all the things that Sorceresses were accused of doing to unwitting men.

Link was the one to break the kiss. Panting, he rested his head against her shoulder— their height differences were amusingly reversed with Zelda sitting on his lap. His arms were tight around her. She felt wonderful.

"I have a question," Zelda said, breathing hard, running a hand through Link's hair. It was wonderful, so thick and soft, like a pelt.

"You'll have to pay for it," Link responded, a grin in his voice. Zelda tweaked his ear once.

"Why did you bind yourself to me?"

Link paused and looked up at her. His blue eyes were unreadable. Zelda wanted to shrink into herself— she felt small, suddenly, and vulnerable, and like a little girl.

"Because you fascinate me," Link said after a lengthy pause. "Because you're strong, and courageous, and incredibly foolhardy."

"Foolhardy?" squawked Zelda, pulling away. Link pulled her back and burrowed his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent.

"You made a pact with a Creature of Power without knowing what your end of the bargain would be." Link's lips moved against her skin and he pressed a kiss to her shoulder with every word. "That's about as foolhardy as it gets." Zelda wondered when the neck of her nightdress had fallen down. This was probably going to end horribly. Or wonderfully. She couldn't make up her mind. She shifted restlessly, and Link must have caught on to her discomfort, because he pulled back and looked at her.

"I give you my word," Link said, eyes solemn, but with the faintest spark of humor, "I will not take advantage of you unless you want me to."

And Zelda remembered what position they were in: her sitting on his lap, her in her wet nightgown alone with him in the woods. She squeaked and covered herself. Link laughed.

"You can trust me," he said, features bright with delight. Zelda was quite certain that she wanted to kick him. "No harm will come to you while you are here, from my hand or from another's." He looked up at the sky, which was swiftly lightening, and his mood shifted. "But you must stay with me today," he said simply. "And I fear you won't like what you're about to see."

"What?" Zelda asked. Link pressed a last kiss to her lips, and it seemed desperate. Unable to help herself, Zelda matched him, movement for movement, desperation for desperation.

"Stay in the spring, Zelda, until you are fully healed."

Zelda wanted to ask him what he was talking about. But he pressed a kiss to her cheek and lifted her off his lap, setting her in the shallows of the spring. Confused, Zelda caught one of his hands in hers, acting on instinct alone. Link squeezed it once and then let it go, standing and backing out of the water.

He made it out not a moment too soon. As he stood, dripping on the shoreline, the sun made its' way above the horizon and a black light consumed Link. Wrapped in with the blackness were swirls of a familiar, gentle pink; it looked so much like Zelda's magic that, for a moment, she thought it was the bond she shared with Link. But no, this was older than hers. Far older. Then it all faded, and Zelda remained rooted to the ground in shock.

Link had vanished. In his place was the charcoal-colored wolf with the strange markings.

"Link?" she gasped, even as she scooted back into the spring with a loud splash. The wolf raised his blue eyes to meet Zelda's own, and she saw him there, in the wild blue depths, proud and sorrowful.

Zelda gaped. The shock of the icy water was nothing to this.

"You… you're… you…. The wolf? You're the wolf?" Zelda managed. Link nodded once. "And you can understand me?"

The wolf nodded again. Zelda tried to control her rampaging thoughts. It didn't work much.

"Is this your true form, or is your true form that of the man?"

Link glared at Zelda. The Princess cracked a sheepish grin.

"I, um, sorry. Can I ask you some yes or no questions?"

The wolf nodded once.

"I'm not kissing you, though. That can wait until you're human again. You will be human again, won't you?"

The wolf nodded.

"At night?

Nod.

"But you're a wolf by day."

Nod.

"Have you always been this way?"

Shake.

"So… are you under a curse of some sort? Or a similar enchantment?"

Link hesitated for a long moment, and then nodded slowly.

"Okay," said Zelda, breathing out quietly. "Okay. So you're a man who transforms into a wolf… or a wolf who transforms into a man… but you're not mortal anyway, and…. And…. " Something occurred to her, a memory from her first morning. "Oh Goddesses, Link, you've seen me naked!"

The wolf's mouth fell open, tongue lolling out in a grin as his tail began to wag. Zelda splashed cold water at Link, mortified.

"I can't believe you," she hissed. "You… you… ugh." Zelda splashed her hands in the water. "Worthless dog."

Link's tail stopped thumping on the ground. Zelda looked up in time to see him advancing on her with the slow grace of a predator.

"I… Link?" she asked, suddenly afraid. "You're not about to attack me, are you?"

Zelda backed into the water, but not quickly enough. Link sprang and toppled her over into the cold water. Zelda surfaced, spluttering. Link had already leapt, agile, up out of the water. He was faster than any wolf she'd ever seen before.

"You're awful," chastised Zelda, advancing on the wolf. "Absolutely horrible."

She got too close. Link took that opportunity to lick a long swipe from just above her drooping collar, up the side of her neck, over her ear. Zelda squealed and backed away again, sliding on the rocks that covered the bottom of the spring. She slipped, and went under again, and came back up for air glaring at the wolf, who was making a wheezing coughing sound like laughter.

"Well, you can enter the spring, at least," said Zelda stiffly. "So I know you're not evil."

The wolf looked at her, Link's blue eyes shining out, and thumped his tail once against the ground. Zelda sighed, carefully making her way over to the rock where Link sat.

"You didn't tell me," she said simply. "I'm guessing that it was because you couldn't tell me, right?"

The wolf nodded.

"Because I have to ask you specifically? And only then you can answer me? Like with all the other questions?"

Another nod. Zelda reached him, and studied him carefully. He really was a beautiful wolf; his charcoal fur contrasted handsomely with his white markings and bright blue eyes.

"May I touch you?" she asked quietly. The wolf nodded again, wagging his tail a little. Tentatively, Zelda reached a hand out to run it across the wet fur.

It was thick, bristly, and soft— much like the hair of the man. Zelda traced his white markings with careful fingers. She then ran her hands over his neck and head and ears, which she seemed to enjoy. Her fingers brushed across a tiny hoop made of blue metal in each ear. Zelda remembered the man wearing the same jewelry.

"I think I can forgive you for this," Zelda said quietly. "But it still means you lied… even though it was a lie by omission. I know you couldn't help it, but it still hurts. When… when all this is over, we need to sit down and have a long, honest talk… even though I'm the one in your debt. But I would appreciate it."

Link wagged his tail once. Zelda laughed lightly, feeling ridiculous. Then she shivered. Link looked at her with concern, then stood and shook himself. His fur had dried in the sun, but Zelda was feeling colder by the moment. He looked at her, and then very pointedly looked over at the bank.

"Are you saying I can get out now?" Zelda asked the wolf. He nodded once. With movements that were made graceless by equal parts numbness and haste to get out of the water, Zelda slipped and slid her way out of the spring, shivering in her chemise.

Link padded up to her, rubbed himself once against her legs, and then set off through the woods. Zelda followed behind him, cursing every time she stepped on a stone or sharp pine needle. She had to sit down frequently to pull the small spines out, and it wasn't long before the tender pads of her feet were covered in blood.

It was a long walk, and Link moved slowly. Every time Zelda sat down to remove more debris from the tattered undersides of her feet, he let loose with a low whine.

"It's ok," she reassured him. "I'll be ok."

In truth, she thought of summoning Sheik to carry her, but a quick glance inward ruled that option out— the Sheikah was still weak, and sound asleep. As a denizen of the Ghostly Realm, the healing water of the spirit's spring hadn't worked on him.

Zelda would carry herself.

Well over an hour later, they arrived at a cave set into the mountain. But just inside the mouth of the cave, Link turned around and looked at Zelda. He looked at her, then pointed his nose in the direction behind her, and wagged his tail.

"You want me to turn around?" she asked. Link nodded his shaggy head. Moving carefully on her ragged feet, Zelda turned, and was amazed.

She'd gotten a good view of the mountains on the ride up to the region, but being camped on the edge of the tall woods, Zelda had been unable to see the Snow Spine. Now, standing higher up in the foothills, the range rose before her like a row of jagged teeth, purple tipped with everlasting white. Zelda exhaled in awe.

"It's beautiful, Link," she said quietly. "Thank you for showing me."

Link wagged his tail, and then walked into the cave. Zelda followed, sighing gratefully as her feet touched down on smooth stone. She limped after him into the blackness, but stopped when it became too dark.

"Link," she said quietly. "I can't see."

A warm form nudged against Zelda's side. She lowered a steadying hand to rest on Link's back, and let him guide her into the depths of the cave. After several minutes more, Zelda felt herself pass through a shield of protection just as strong, if not stronger, than the castle's wards. Not many paces beyond that, her feet moved onto a fur pelt. Link nudged at the backs of her legs. Zelda sat. Link pushed her into a lying down position with his cold, wet nose. Zelda was too tired to argue.

"I'll just lie here," she said quietly. "And nap, I suppose."

He touched his nose briefly to her cheek before turning and padding in near silence out of the cave. Zelda blinked a few times in the darkness, then sighed. The pelt was really quite comfortable.

Everyone would be worried. What would they think when they saw the guards? When they saw that Zelda was gone? Would they think it had been her?

Zelda turned her face into the pelt. It smelled good, a little spicy, a little musky. It smelled like Link. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself, wondering how she was going to get back to camp and what she was going to say. How would she ever manage to explain?

She missed Impa. She would've given anything just then to have Impa with her. But Impa was gone, bound in strange magic so that nobody could reach her. Impa wouldn't be coming to the rescue this time, and Link couldn't tell her anything about what was going on. Zelda would have to figure this out herself.

Breathing in the spicy scent of Link, Zelda dropped into a fitful, restless slumber.

—

She woke, disoriented, to total darkness. She sat up suddenly, looking around, panicking. Had she gone blind? Then she remembered where she was.

"Link?" she asked. Her heart began to beat quickly. If Link was gone, too, she would never be able to make it out of here alive. "Link?"

Beside her, part of the pelt stirred. Zelda squeaked as an enormous, warm body rose from the pelt, shaking itself, and butted a massive head against her.

"You scared me," she whispered. "I thought I was lost."

The comforting touch of his nose against her cheek was soothing. Zelda wrapped her arms around the wolf, burying her face in his fur.

"Please don't leave me here."

The wolf whuffed quietly. Zelda smiled into his fur, though fear and uncertainty overwhelmed her.

"I'm so afraid, Link," she whispered. "That monster that attacked…. It left horrible destruction. What if they think it was me? What if they blame me?" Her breath caught in her throat. "Will I ever be able to go back, Link?"

The wolf pressed closer for a moment, before backing away completely.

"Link?" Zelda asked. Her fearful voice echoed around the cave.

"Sssh," came the sound of his voice, comforting to her in the darkness. "I'm here."

"Is it sundown?" Zelda asked stupidly. She felt Link's arms wrap around her.

"Yes," he breathed.

"I'm missing Tetra's dance," she responded, even as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Goddesses, Link, will my life ever be the same?"

"No," he said. "It'll be better."

His lips touched hers cautiously, as though waiting for her to pull away. Zelda leaned into the kiss, hungry for the taste of him; unprepared for the sudden lunge, Link fell back onto the pelt and Zelda landed on top of him. She was kissing him frantically, and he was meeting her as seamlessly as he did when they danced— all she knew was that she didn't want it to stop. Link skimmed two fingers across the outside of Zelda's leg and she gasped into his mouth, then bit down on his lip. With a growl, Link easily flipped them over so that he was on top, pinning her beneath his powerful form.

Zelda hummed in delight as he pulled down the next of her dress to kiss his way down until his lips brushed the swell of a breast. She fisted her hands in his hair, in the back of his tunic, restlessly pulling him closer. She wanted him, needed him like she needed air. In the back of her mind, she wondered when this had happened— when she had gone from simply tolerating his presence to craving it. When she had fallen for him.

Link lightly bit into the skin at Zelda's neck, and she gasped in surprise at the sudden pain. But Link laved over it with his tongue, and then gently kissed his way back to her mouth. He peppered her with kisses, and then pulled away with a regretful sigh.

"As much as I would love to finish what we've started," he said, "I need to return you to your family."

Zelda sighed as the heavy mantle of worry descended upon her shoulders once more. She looked within her to see Sheik looking almost completely normal again.

"What are we going to do about… about what lies in the woods?" Zelda asked quietly. Link pressed his forehead against hers, the cool surface of his mask welcome against her flushed face.

"I don't like it," Link said, "But you're going to have to draw out the accomplices."

"Why?" Zelda asked, one of her hands finding one of Link's. He twined his fingers between hers, and a happy warmth shot straight to Zelda's stomach.

"Because they will lead us to their master," Link said simply. "The… the evil force is hidden and warded, much like we are now. The only way that we can get to it is if it willingly allows us in."

"There's a 'but' coming, isn't there," said Zelda softly. Link sighed, his grip on Zelda's hand tightening.

"I won't be able to go with you," he said. "At least, not at first. You'll have to take down the wards from the inside. Once you've done that, I'll be able to come to you… though even once I've made it to you, I won't be able to finish off whatever it is. Only you can do that."

"You need me to use Light magic?" Zelda asked quietly. Link nodded once, then raised his free hand to Zelda's cheek.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "But this is the only way."

"And what's to keep me from being drained the second I step into its presence?" Zelda asked, worry making her gut clench. Link kissed her lips gently once, then released her. She heard him moving quietly nearby, before he came back and knelt behind her. Zelda felt him draping a light chain necklace around her neck. He fiddled with the clasp for a moment, then brushed her hair aside and pressed a gentle kiss to the nape of Zelda's neck as his fingers pulled away.

"I give this Protective Token freely as a sign of adoration," he said softly. "As it was given once to me, many lifetimes ago."

He probably meant that literally, Zelda thought dizzily, feeling the weight of very old, very strong magic settle onto her shoulders. It seemed familiar, too, like the pink magic that had wrapped itself around Link before he had been transformed into a wolf that morning. Zelda's hand found the small Triforce pendant hanging heavily at the end of the chain. The necklace itself was a perfect fit for Zelda as well. It very clearly had once belonged to a woman.

"Did you love her?" Zelda asked thoughtlessly.

"Very much," replied Link, touching Zelda's hair gently. "But it was not meant to be."

"It must have hurt," she said, even as her heart sank.

"It was a long, long time ago," Link responded, pressing a kiss to Zelda's shoulder. He stood then and walked around her, took her hands in his, and urged her upwards with a gentle movement. Zelda climbed carefully to her feet, and was surprised to find that, though they were still raw, they had been cleaned of blood.

"How…?" she began.

"Magic," Link responded, amusement in his voice. Zelda felt a heavy cloak drop around her shoulders just before Link swept her up into his arms.

"You can't carry me all the way back, Link," reprimanded Zelda, even as her arms went around Link's neck.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because… because it's a long way, and you'll get tired."

"I won't get tired," responded Link with a laugh as they emerged into the starry night. "And I'd rather not have you ripping up your feet and tripping over stones."

"Are you certain I'm not too heavy?" Zelda asked him self-consciously.

"Stop worrying," Link said. His voice was warm. "I'm not a mortal, Zelda. You know this by now. You've seen evidence of it with your own eyes. I can carry a beautiful woman down a mountain."

"Oh," said Zelda, blushing and leaning her head against Link's shoulder. "Ok."

Zelda slipped into thought. Link seemed to be in his element, walking through the woods. The fallen needles of the twisted pines crunched pleasantly underfoot, releasing a wonderful scent. The night air was cool; Zelda was glad for the cloak, and for Link's warmth.

"If I can't find the accomplice by tomorrow night," said Zelda quietly after a long time had passed. "What then?"

"It's your decision what you do," Link responded. "But you are a Sorceress, Zelda. Princess or not, you've started a hunt, and you have a magically binding obligation to see it through."

It was true. When Zelda had graduated from the academy, she'd taken an oath saying just that.

"And after everything is over?" Zelda asked quietly. "What will become of… of my debt to you?"

"I won't force you to stay here, if that's what you're asking," Link said simply. "I would not keep a lovely little sparrow like you captive."

"What about the seal on you?"

Link was silent for so long that Zelda began to doubt that she'd even spoken the last question aloud.

"I don't know," he said finally. "We can discuss that later."

"Alright," breathed Zelda. Link walked in silence for several minutes longer. Zelda spoke up again.

"What if I can't bring down the barrier?"

At this, Link stilled. He strode purposefully over to a boulder and set Zelda down on it, then knelt before her, taking both her hands in his, as he had two nights ago. Had it really only been two nights since he and Zelda had bound themselves together? It felt like so much longer.

"If anyone can find a way, it's you," he said simply. "And you have a priceless Token around your neck. It will buy you the time you need to destroy the shield. And then I'll be there, loaning you my strength. And you'll have Sheik, too."

"Yes," said Zelda, her gaze turning inward. Sheik looked almost completely replenished. He stirred sluggishly from his slumber, sent out a warm burst of reassurance, and fell back into his healing sleep.

"Take it all in steps," Link said softly. "We're going to get you back to camp, where you'll inevitably be fussed over and much talked about. You'll claim that you dealt a severe blow to the sorcerer, though it has left you fatigued and weak. Sometime within the next day, someone will panic and attempt to capture you, believing you to be defenseless. You will allow this to happen. When you have been transported to the evil within the woods, you will bring down its' barriers and summon me. I will appear, and I'll protect you while you defeat the creature with Light arrows. After that, I'll carry you back off to my cave, and we'll have that long talk you've been asking for, and possibly do some not talking as well."

Zelda took a steadying breath. Link squeezed her hands again.

"But if it happens during the day, you'll be stuck in the shape of a wolf. You won't be able to help me."

"Focus on bringing down the barrier," Link said quietly. "Everything else will work itself out after that."

His eyes were bright and sincere. The set of his mouth below his mask was completely serious. Zelda nodded her head with more certainty than she felt.

"Okay," she said, looking down at Link. It was incredible how blue his eyes were. Even in the darkness of the forest, she could see them; framed by thick black lashes, they stood out brilliantly. She wanted to take off his mask. For a moment, she thought about reaching for his face, or kissing him again, but then sighed. Now was not the time.

"Are you ready for step one?" Link asked. Zelda nodded. Link lifted her gently again and the two set off once more through the woods.

By all rights, Zelda should have been terrified. And she was, a little; her heart was beating faster than normal, and her mouth was dry, but she wasn't screaming or crying like she would have been had this happened to her several days ago. And she wondered at Link, and how profoundly the past week had touched her life.

She leaned her head back against his shoulder and let him carry her the rest of the way as they talked through what exactly it was that Zelda would say had happened. The King would want to know, Zelda was sure, and Link insisted that they needed to balance truth with fiction just enough that the accomplice would panic. So they talked, and planned, and after a half hour of this, Link stopped at the edge of the woods, just beyond the clearing. "Are you ready?" he asked.

No. "Yes," Zelda responded.

Link stepped out of the tree line and into the clearing, then strode across the meadow towards where the dance was taking place. It was well underway, though few couples were dancing. People were looking around anxiously, shifting restlessly from foot to foot, and muttering. Everyone seemed tense and on edge. The King sat in his throne, watching over the event from behind his golden mask.

When people at last spotted Link carrying Zelda towards the King, whispers broke out like a dozen pots boiling, and then silence gradually descended.

As Link walked through the dance floor, carrying Zelda easily in his arms, the Princess resisted the urge to bury her face in his shoulder. Their roles, again, had been reversed; tonight, he was her shield against the eyes of others.

"Zelda!" cried Tetra, sprinting forward, her purple gown whirling around her as she ran. "You're ok!"

The other Princesses rushed forward to embrace their sister as Link set her gently on the ground, mindful of her still-wounded feet. Tetra slammed into Zelda at top speed, wrapping her arms around the youngest Princess. Aveil and Ashei followed, with Saria and Lulu and Julietta hot on their trails. Most of the Princesses were crying. Zelda felt her own eyes fill with tears, too— tears of joy at being back with her sisters, and tears of terror at what would come next.

"Our Sheikahs said you were safe," babbled Tetra. "They said that you were safe, but that Sheik had been damaged. When we woke this morning and saw the… the destruction, we knew you'd been carried off, and we were so afraid… what happened?"

"Yes," rumbled the King's voice. "I, too, would like to know that."

The Princesses slowly backed away from Zelda, though Tetra remained stubbornly stuck to Zelda's hand.

The lion's mask glinted down at Zelda and she took a deep breath. Her father was difficult to read even without the mask.

"I woke in the night, Father, to see that an apparition of Dark Magic had descended upon our camp," she said quietly. "It had been sent specifically to weaken me and take me back to its' master. It abducted me and took me into the woods, where I would have fallen had Link not come to my aid. The two of us vanquished the monster, dealing a severe blow to the rogue sorcerer in the process. We were each weakened, however, which is why it has taken me so long to return."

"And how was this apparition allowed so close to us in the first place? Why was it not detected sooner?" demanded the King. Zelda swallowed. This was the part she was dreading, though Link swore it was necessary. It was also true, which made Zelda sick to her stomach.

"Link and I believe it was called down by someone close to the Royal Family," Zelda said quietly. "That the sorcerer has a sympathizer. We will begin an inquiry into this tomorrow, to find the culprit."

"And where, exactly has Impa been during all this?" asked the King. Zelda bowed her head.

"With all due respect, Majesty, Impa answers to the same higher power that my Lord does," Zelda said softly. "It is not for me to question the actions of the Goddesses' servant."

The King pursed his lips, but did not argue. It was a bone of contention to the King that Impa and Shad were the only two people in the country that he had no authority over. At last, he turned his attention to Link.

"You have my deepest thanks for the safe return of my daughter," the King said. "Name your reward and it shall be yours."

"You may thank and reward me after I have assisted in the defeat of this rogue sorcerer, my Lord," responded Link humbly. The King pursed his lips and then nodded.

"Very well."

Zelda bit on the inside of her lip as she felt the magic of a bargain settle into place. She shot a glare out of the corner of her eye at Link. His face was the very expression of innocence. Zelda didn't buy it for a second.

"And where is Sheik?" the King asked. "My own Medli has told me that he is well, though gravely injured."

"Sheik fed his energy to me, that I might do battle," Zelda responded. "He is now resting, but I am certain he would be happy to testify for me come morning."

"Very well, Princess Zelda," said the King with a nod. "You may return to your tent, so that you may hunt down this sorcerer tomorrow and defeat him once and for all."

Zelda dropped an intentionally wobbly curtsey. "Thank you, my Lord," she said simply. She let herself stumble into Link, who quickly caught her. He looked up at the King, even as Romio took a few paces forward, arms outstretched. Zelda didn't miss the way that Link's arms tightened around her as the knight approached.

"Might I have my Lord's permission to escort the Princess back to the Royal Pavilion, to continue feeding her what power I have left?" Link asked, pretending that he hadn't seen Romio. The king thought about it, then nodded once. Romio let his arms dropped and backed away as Link and Zelda set off slowly across the dance floor, followed by Ashei and Saria. Tetra released Zelda's hand.

"I'll catch up to you later," said the sixth princess.

Murmurs followed them off the floor. Zelda kept her gaze pointedly straight ahead.

"Hey," Ashei said to Zelda as they moved well beyond eavesdropping range. "You shouldn't have warded our tents last night."

"Yes, I should have," Zelda responded. "You were being drained. And it's good I did— the monster would have taken more than just your magical energy."

Ashei looked sullen. Saria touched Zelda's arm lightly.

"Thank you," she said. "For protecting us, even though it cost you." Then she turned to Link. "And thank you for protecting our sister."

"I was only doing my duty," Link said. Zelda caught the double meaning behind his words and was overwhelmed with the sudden urge to stomp on Link's foot. As though reading her mind, Link touched one hand lightly to the small of Zelda's back. Lightning shot through her.

Damn him.

"Will you be alright?" Link asked Zelda as they arrived at the royal pavilion, and she prayed he wasn't faking the concern she heard in his voice and saw in his eyes. Zelda bit her lip, then nodded once. Link took her hand and kissed it.

"I'll find you tomorrow," he said, blue eyes intense. A promise. Zelda nodded again, and tried not to feel terror and fear and loneliness and a little regret as he walked away.

"At least one, if not two of us, be sitting with you at all times during night," said Saria as she ushered Zelda into her tent. "Me or Ashei, and probably Aveil or Tetra, just because they'll kill us if we leave them out. Until one of those girls inevitably barges in, you're going to tell us exactly what is going on." For someone so tiny, the twenty-seven year old princess could be incredibly intimidating. Zelda sighed and wondered how much she should tell her two magical sisters. She didn't want to put them in danger, or worse— tell them something they would repeat, and blow the whole plan out of the water.

"A monster did come to the camp," said Zelda quietly, deciding to stick to telling them what an accomplice somewhere already knew. "A Bongo Bongo."

"What was it like?" asked Ashei, curious. Zelda shuddered at the memory.

"Horrible," Zelda responded. "It was massive." She grabbed her _Vade Mecum_ from where it sat beside her bed and opened it. She flipped to the first page of the bestiary, which was blank.

"Bongo Bongo," she said simply, and followed it with a small seeking spell. The details on Bongo Bongos immediately began to appear on the blank page.

"Read this," Zelda said simply, passing her _Vade Mecum_ to Ashei and Saria. "I need to change, brush my hair, and wash off my feet."

As Ashei and Saria read, identical expressions of horror on their faces, Zelda peeled off her chemise and put on a sturdier night shift on the off chance she was abducted overnight again. Then she sat down at her stool, combed out her ragged, knotted hair, and washed her feet off with a quick cleaning spell. She padded barefoot across her rug to her potion chest, and she withdrew a small vial of red potion and a length of bandage. She rubbed the potion over her injuries, then set to wrapping her feet as Ashei and Saria finished reading the passage on just what exactly a Bongo Bongo was made of, and how many human deaths it took to make that happen.

"One of those was outside?" Saria asked, looking green. "How big did you say it was?"

"At least as tall as one of the castle towers," said Zelda. "I couldn't see the whole thing. It was hanging upside-down from the sky"

"And you defeated it?"

"Not quite," said Zelda. "Link defeated it, from what I understand. I was out cold."

"And then what?"

"And then we found a spiritual spring, where we renewed ourselves enough that we could walk again," said Zelda. "Then we found a cave and slept; after that, Link carried me back here, since I was taken in the night when I had no shoes."

"That's all that happened between you two? Nothing… more?" asked Saria, raising a brow.

"I get abducted by a monster and you want to know about my love life?" asked Zelda incredulously.

"That's the second time he's saved you," Ashei stated simply. "I saw the way you were looking at him, though you'd probably die before admitting that you felt anything for him. Except, you also have a very nice hickey on your neck, yeah?"

"No way," said Zelda, grabbing a hand mirror and frantically turning it so she could see her neck. Sure enough, there was a small, faint bruise where he'd bitten her earlier that day. "That… must have happened when I got thrown," Zelda tried.

"We're not stupid," said Ashei, grinning. "It looks fresh, too."

Saria shrugged. "We've all had our beaus, though I must say, I never thought you'd be the one to dally about."

"This," moaned Zelda, burying her head in her hands, "is way too complicated to be a dalliance."

Saria and Ashei both stared at Zelda. When the youngest princess didn't move, they both began to shift restlessly.

"Hey," said Ashei. "We didn't actually mean to upset you."

"Ashei, there's a very strong, very crazy sorcerer who is trying to suck out my powers to make himself stronger, I'm working around an obscene number of idiotic binding enchantments, Impa is… not here, and I've developed an alarming attachment to the man who I'm relying on to keep me from dying. The whole situation is a little bit upsetting." Zelda exhaled loudly. She lowered her left palm from her forehead and examined it, the four long scratches glinting in the candlelight. They looked just like the claws on Link's paws. But how had he done it?

"What happened to your hand?" Saria asked, grabbing Zelda's palm and pulling it towards her.

"Magic," Zelda responded. "Very big magic."

"It looks like blood magic," said Ashei, casting a critical eye over it. Zelda looked up in surprise.

"How do you know that?"

"I'm not an idiot," said Ashei. "I know about battle magic, and blood magic is often tied in with that, yeah? What did you make a Pact with?"

"Zelda made a Pact?" Saria asked, alarmed. Zelda sighed.

"I can't talk about it," she said. "But it's ok. I'm not an idiot either, Ashei. I know how to deal with Creatures of Power."

Letting them give her hickeys was a good start, apparently.

"You'll let me know if there's anything I can do to help, right?" asked Saria. Ashei nodded her agreement.

"Of course," said Zelda. "And Saria, there is something that you can do for me." Zelda tilted her head to the side and gestured to the bruise. "Can you get rid of this before anyone else sees it? Like Tetra or Aveil?"

"They're about as subtle as earthquakes, yeah?" said Ashei.

"I'll tell them about it when I'm not trying to keep myself from dying very painfully," responded Zelda as Saria pressed two fingers to the hickey. There was a gentle pop, like a bubble rising to the surface of water, and Saria pulled her fingers back.

"That should take care of it," Saria said simply.

"Great," said Zelda. She laid out her dress for the next day, tucking a number of amulets and potions into the pockets, just in case. Then she turned and surveyed her two sisters. "I'm going to go to bed now, because I'm tired." And she was, she was surprised to find— though she had slept the day away in Link's cave, she'd slept the sleep of healing, which she always woke up from feeling more tired, not less. "Though first I'm going to ward the tent so that only someone of Royal blood may enter. And tell Aveil that if she wakes me up, I will not hesitate to light her hair on fire for real."

"Can I read your _Vade_ while you sleep?" Ashei asked.

"Absolutely," responded Zelda. "Just don't shut it and open it again. I'm the only one it's keyed to, and you'll get zapped with a nasty curse if you try."

"Got it," said Ashei.

Zelda set to work warding the inside of the tent, much as she had warded outside of Ashei's and Saria's the night before. The two Princesses watched Zelda work; they were able to see her wrap the powers around the four anchor points, and Saria was smiling faintly by the time Zelda was done.

"Watching you cast spells is always beautiful," Saria said.

Zelda's response was cut off by a sudden enraged shriek— Julietta's voice. The sound of something breaking several tents away surprised Zelda. "How _could_ you?" Julietta sounded near tears. The tones of Romio's response were audible, soothing, but a little desperate; his words were indistinct.

"What do you think is going on?" Saria asked, glancing in the direction of Julietta's tent.

"Dunno. He's been distant the whole Carrus," said Ashei. Out of all the sisters aside from Julietta, Ashei knew Romio the best— they could be found every morning in the training ring, beating the snot out of each other.

"Cheating?" Saria asked.

"Maybe," Ashei responded. "In the stories, it's always the brightest passion like theirs that leads to betrayal, yeah?"

Zelda was too tired to care. "Shut up and let me sleep," she said, throwing a silencing spell over the tent as something else was shattered by Julietta's hands and the sounds of sobbing echoed over the campground. "Good night."

"Night," chorused Ashei and Saria together. Zelda threw herself onto her cot.

Despite her long nap from earlier that day, she was exhausted. Her eyelids were heavier than boulders. "Wake me up if you can't get out." And she sank like a rock into sleep, wishing that Link was there with her to hold her in his arms again.

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><p><em>Uploaded Sunday, January 22, 2012, at 2:38 PM Central time<em>


	7. The Evil

_ A/N: Alright. Here we go. Time for the fun to begin._

_ Once you've finished reading this chapter, if you need some more awesome Zelda-universe insanity (complete with plot twists, ZeLinky action, and a really well written story), make sure to check out Fighting Gravity by my good friend, CrazygurlMadness._

_ Please don't forget to review. And when you do, tell me if you saw it coming._

_-L _

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><p>Zelda awoke the next morning feeling curiously empty. There was something wrong, something she should be afraid of…<p>

And then she remembered everything. It all crashed down on her like an avalanche: the monster. The battle. Today was her last chance.

She staggered up out of bed and vomited into the chamberpot.

"Eat something bad?"

Zelda looked up. Julietta was sitting on Zelda's stool, watching the youngest princess with an unreadable expression. The second princess had faint bluish circles under her eyes and her coif wasn't as perfect as normal. Zelda wondered if she'd slept at all— she certainly didn't look like it.

"Uh…" replied Zelda, wiping the back of her hand against her mouth. She frowned at the taste of vomit. "Adverse effects of using too much magic. Have you been in here for long?"

"About an hour," said Julietta, shrugging one pale shoulder and looking in the direction of the tent flap. "Tetra and Ashei had been sitting with you for ages, and they both seemed exhausted. So I offered to take over."

That was very un-Julietta. "Thanks," said Zelda, a little confused. "That was really generous of you."

Julietta bit her lip and looked down into her lap, wringing her hands. "Not really."

Zelda's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Zelda sat down on her cot and began unwrapping the bandages from around her feet. The makeshift poultice of red potions she'd put on her wounds had worked— the soles of her feet were completely healed.

"I wanted to ask you something," Julietta responded, straightening and lifting her head.

"Is it about the fight you had with Romio last night?"

Julietta paled. "You heard that?"

Zelda nodded. "We heard you shouting and breaking things."

Julietta exhaled, shoulders slumping. "It's connected to the fight I had with Romio. I wanted to ask you about Pacts."

"Pacts?" Zelda jerked her head up, recalling the conversation they'd had nearly a week ago. "What about them?"

Julietta's hands were clenched in her lap, but her eyes were steady on Zelda.

"Well, I actually wanted to ask you about one Pact specifically," Julietta said. She nodded at Zelda's left hand. "Yours. What did you promise him?"

Zelda's blood ran cold.

"Julietta?"

"Romio has a similar scar," Julietta said, voice wavering the tiniest bit. "It isn't quite exactly the same— yours was obviously made by claws— but it's in the same place. And I saw your Pact last night when _he_ carried you back, and I figured, you must have made a deal. But why? What haven't you been telling us?"

"It was the drain," Zelda said quietly. "I had to, to protect our family and our people."

Julietta nodded once. She took a deep breath. "Did it hurt?"

"A little," Zelda responded, thinking of the flash of agony. "Why?"

"What happens if you break a Pact?" Julietta asked, twisting her skirt between her hands.

"You unravel," Zelda responded. "Pacts are magically binding. We all have magic in us, whether or not we can access it; if you make a Pact, and then break it, the magic that holds you together unravels, and you just… come apart."

"So it's like death then?"

"It's worse than death," Zelda said. "Because the soul unravels, too. You just cease to exist. Completely."

Julietta nodded again, as though that settled something for her. "I see," she said. She exhaled once shakily. When she spoke, her voice wobbled. "Then I suppose I don't have a choice."

She pulled an amulet out from under the scooped neckline of her pink seventh-day dress. It had a visible aura of nasty Dark Magic. Zelda's heart skipped a beat. She recognized what it was immediately; it had a very unpleasant teleportation spell attached.

"Julietta, what's going on?" Zelda asked. Julietta turned her eyes on Zelda, and the seventh princess saw remorse in them, and anguished resolve.

"Romio's Pact has been called in, for a great harvest of magic," said Julietta. Her voice was shaking. "It was actually called in a while ago. But he's got to finish holding up his end of the deal, and that means that… well, it's not going to be very pleasant for either of us."

"Romio?"

"He was contacted by… his Master, we'll call it, back when the augur was making predictions for where the _Carrus Din_ ought to be held. Romio was given a set of enchanted Thoth bones to switch out with the ones kept in the Temple of Time… and it wasn't easy, but he did it.

"And then he was told to take your magic from you by any means necessary. First he tried using the Chancellor, one of his Master's servants, to distract you. He pushed the energy siphoning spell through Cole, and the idiot didn't even notice. When you made the Pact with _him_, though, the energy spell backfired… and you saw the results.

"After that, Romio tried to pull the energy necessary through your bonds with Saria and Ashei… but you caught onto that too quickly, and warded them. So he had to call down the Bongo Bongo." Julietta shivered, looking green. "And you know how that ended. So this is his last option. We have to kidnap you, and take you to his Master, or I'll lose my Romio."

Zelda's heart was hammering in her throat.

"How could you?" she whispered, echoing Julietta's screamed words of last night. "How could Romio?"

Julietta cracked a wan smile. Her eyes were bright. Her hands were trembling.

"He didn't like it," she responded. "And I only found out last night. That was the fight you heard. I was so upset." Julietta's voice shook. She took a deep breath and composed herself. "But Romio made a Pact for love. He said he'd do anything for me, and he followed through on that promise. I can't let him die. I love you, and you're my sister, and nobody will ever replace you, but if Romio ceased to exist, so would I. I have to do this."

Zelda exhaled and nodded. She didn't understand it. She didn't want to understand it. But she could deal with it.

"May I get dressed first? Put on some shoes before you take me to die?" Zelda asked. Julietta thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

"It won't make much difference," she said finally, voice cracking.

Zelda tried not to sigh in relief. She quickly removed her chemise and put on her dress, careful not to disturb any of the protective amulets or potions she'd loaded into the pockets the night before. She sat down on her cot to pull on her boots, and as she bent over, her Triforce necklace fell out. Julietta's eyes focused on it immediately.

"Is that new?" Julietta asked, curious, clearly thankful for a distraction. "I've never seen it before."

"This old thing?" Zelda turned it in her palm, heart beating a mile a minute, hoping Julietta wouldn't realize what it was. And why should she? She couldn't see magic. "No, I've had it for ages."

"It's lovely," Julietta said quietly. "Are…. Are you ready?"

Zelda took a deep breath. In, then out. She took another. Relief and terror warred within her. She nodded her head.

Julietta grabbed the amulet with fumbling fingers. She looked at it for a moment, and then let out a laugh that sounded a little more like a sob.

"Romio didn't tell me how to work it," she said.

"You break it in half," Zelda responded. "That will activate the spell."

"This won't fry me, will it?" Julietta asked, eyes going to Zelda. "Breaking it won't hurt me?"

"No," Zelda said, an acrid taste in her mouth. "You have my word."

"I'm so sorry, Zelda," said Julietta. Two perfect tears made their way down her beautiful face. In that moment, Zelda hated her.

"Just break the pendant," Zelda bit out. Julietta looked even more miserable, but nodded. She snapped the pendant between her two hands. Darkness flowed out of the pendant, oozing like blood, dripping and wiggling and writhing in thick black tentacles until it wrapped around Zelda. Zelda kept her eyes steady on Julietta as she was dragged down and under, into the darkness.

She could feel the tentacles wrapping around her, squeezing and pulling and tearing. This particular spell had been designed to be unpleasant— to weaken her even before she arrived. Zelda choked back a silent scream as the magic ripped and writhed, burning and freezing her at once. She struggled as a few of the questing fingers tried to dip into her magical core, which she wrapped in Light, holding it within her skin; she came away a little weaker, but was able to beat them few away.

She surfaced, panting and shivering and sweating, in a massive underground anteroom; tree roots as thick as Zelda's waist curled in through the massive, arched windows… but there was something strange. Something not quite right. With a stomach-plunging shock of vertigo, Zelda realized that the whole room was upside down. Cobweb-covered chandeliers were crumpled on the long lines of the arched ceiling— or was it the floor?- before her, glowing with orange and purple magical flames. The room was empty except for a single man clad in black. She recognized him from the dance. Two purple crescent moons glinted at her briefly from below his eyes. Zelda had a sudden recollection of those moons shining briefly out at her from the darkness behind the Bongo Bongo.

"Princess."

She didn't like the way that his deceptively soft voice dragged her name out into a caress; she didn't like the way his brilliantly blue eyes looked her over with both greed and disdain; she didn't like the way his mouth curved into a thin smile. There was something so familiar about him— about his face— but she could't put her finger on it; perhaps it was that she could only see parts of him at a time. Whenever she tried to focus on his face as a whole, the image blurred, like water rushing out between her cupped hands. And he was still so unsettling, so nearly transparent, that it bothered Zelda, though she couldn't be sure why.

Zelda tried to push her discomfort from her mind and instead work on the more important task she had at hand: she had to disarm the wards. Fast.

"Welcome," the man in black was saying. "Did you enjoy my little joke?"

"Joke?" asked Zelda as the first feelers of a siphoning spell wrapped themselves around her. She shot them back with a small shockwave of Light magic. The man didn't seem to notice.

"Yes, Princess," said the man. "My joke. I thought it was terribly funny— turning one Princess against another, but alas. So few appreciate true humor these days."

Another tiny, carefully controlled shockwave beat back more feelers. Zelda used the opportunity to subtly send out her own seeking spell, plunging it down into the ground below, to go out and find the anchors for the wards.

"Though I'll admit," said the man in black with a frown, his slashed chestnut eyebrows furrowing downward, "It was not ideal, waiting this long. You were able to get to my brother, and though I'd anticipated it, it still displeased me that you allowed yourself to be soul bonded to him. But, I suppose, old dogs never do learn new tricks," said the man with a long-suffering sigh.

"What?" Zelda asked, confused; between the feelers, the seeking spell, and the carefully controlled blasts, she wasn't fully paying attention. "What do you mean?"

"My dear," said the man in black, looking at her with an expression of exasperation, "inattentiveness is insulting in such a valued guest."

"Prisoner, you mean," she responded. The man gave an elegant shrug that spoke volumes. Zelda tried not to grind her teeth.

"You see, Princess, you're not the first female of royal blood who my brother has soul bonded himself to," the man said calmly, inspecting one gauntleted hand. "It hardly went over well the first time, so I'm stunned that he would try it again."

"You're not making any sense," Zelda hedged, mostly to buy herself time.

"The Wolf, Princess," said the man with long-suffering patience. "My brother. He- or I should say, We- bonded once to another royal woman, a long time ago. He did so to steal her powers, you foolish girl… but when she discovered his duplicity, she sealed him here." The man's face split into an evil-looking smile. "With me."

"That's a convenient lie," noted Zelda, even as she recalled the swirls of familiar pink magic surrounding Link as he transformed.

"It's the truth, Princess." The man's eyes focused on her as she beat back another wave of darkness. He tsked.

"Silly things, always grabbing," he murmured. With a wave of his hand the feelers of the spell completely vanished. Zelda stared.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, curious despite herself.

"Originally," said the man, and he sounded bored, "I was going to suck all your magic away and kill you to revive myself fully and break the curse that binds me here. But you've got a soul-bond to my mangy brother, which means that you can access his power. So you're going to stay here, and I'm going to slowly drain every last drop of magic from you, and from him. I'll eat both your powers, and become invincible. But now, Princess, none of that," he added, voice a caress. She felt her seeking spell killed abruptly in the earth and shuddered. He'd known she was running it the whole time? And played with her anyway?

"Why do you keep calling him your brother?"

"Because he is," said the man in black. "Or, well, he isn't. But the real story is too complicated. You may call me Link, by the way."

Zelda recoiled, even as the man began to laugh. And she suddenly knew why he looked so familiar. Except for the brown hair, and the cruelty in his eyes, he looked exactly like Link. Or, at least, he was the same height, and had the same mouth and chin and jaw, and eyes, and eyebrows, and a similar voice— though her Link's voice was a bit deeper.

Zelda began to panic.

"Where's Impa?" Zelda demanded.

"Oh," the man sing songed, "here and there. Take her away, guards— but be sure she's put in one of the rooms far from the seal. I'd hate for her to go wandering too close to it and die early."

At the mention of the seal, Zelda felt the pendant heat very slightly against her collar bone. She made up her mind to find her way to the seal by any means necessary, and hoped that she wasn't going to get herself drained in the process.

"If you've been sealed here," said Zelda as two menacing bokoblin guards lumbered forward, "then how were you at the _Carrus Din_?"

"The sudden surge of energy from that foolish Chancellor Cole allowed me to manifest briefly," said the man. "I had to see his spectacular failure with my own eyes. Move along now, Princess."

The guards seized Zelda's arms, but she wrenched them away and held her head high.

"I won't run away," she bit. The man in black laughed in delight as the guards led Zelda away, out of the upside-down anteroom.

Zelda swayed under uncomfortable vertigo as the guards escorted her continuously downwards… or upwards. Zelda wasn't fully certain which way she was going. Tree roots twined in through the windows, tapestries hung perfectly smooth upside down, and furniture was stuck to the ceiling. Or floor. Down a row of spiral stairs that led into an upside-down tower, Zelda found herself in a small, sparse room. A few blankets and a bucket had been set out on the floor alongside a single flickering candle.

The thick door shut behind her with a loud slam as she tripped over the top of the upside-down doorjamb into the room. The lock slammed into place. Zelda spun around, claustrophobia suddenly overwhelming her as she became very aware of just how small and dark the underground room was.

Zelda slumped to the ground. She felt no spells pulling at her, though the Token burned faintly and steadily against her skin. She pressed a palm over it, breathing out steadily. She felt the tiny trickle of magic floating from the Token into the world around her… so the Token was protecting her. Feeding magic in her place.

Curious, Zelda summoned a tiny droplet of Water. It trembled on the tip of her finger, then slowly rolled down to her palm. She turned her hand over, and the Water fell to the stone floor. The siphon did not appear to have any effect on it. Breathing deeply again, she made a small circle of Light around herself.

"Sheik," she murmured. The Sheikah appeared instantly, pacing around the tiny tower room.

"The Token you possess holds its own magical core," Sheik said without preamble. "Though nowhere near as substantial as your own, it appears to have been built up over time to possess a core comparable to one of a low-level magician. It should be able to buy you some time."

"Can you sense Impa?"

"Yes," said Sheik. "She is near, though I can't pinpoint where. It doesn't seem as though she is being held captive in any one location, though I'm having difficulties communicating with her. I advise caution, Princess."

Zelda nodded, chewing on her lip.

"And what about the Seal that the man was talking about? Do you think we ought to investigate it?"

"I don't know," said Sheik as Zelda spread her skirts around her. "It's too convenient, Princess."

But her attention wasn't on Sheik. The Gohma's Dark Orb— the one Zelda had taken from Impa's tent— had just toppled out of her pocket and begun rolling on the stones below Zelda with a loud plinging noise.

"Curious," murmured Zelda, reaching for the orb as it rolled away. "I don't remember putting this in my pocket."

Sheik crouched down beside Zelda, eyes solemn.

"I didn't pack that, Princess," Sheik said. "Did you?"

"I don't think so." The light caught the orb in the most beautiful way. "I don't recall." Mesmerized, she stretched out her fingers and brushed the orb's inky surface.

Everything went black.

—

It was night. Impa was standing on the edge of the woods, arms folded as she waited patiently. There were no nighttime sounds, save for the wind in the trees. This didn't seem to disturb the serene Sheikah. Under the moon, she waited.

Stars spun slowly overhead. It was a long time before the man appeared from within the shadows. The teeth of the wolf's mask on his face glinted in the darkness.

"So you've returned to undo the damage your mistress wrought so many lifetimes ago," he said.

"The damage was by your own hand, Majesty," Impa responded. "And now it has come to this."

"Yes," Link said solemnly. He raised a graceful hand. "It is most… inconvenient for me to be bound in this cursed half-form."

Impa did not deign to respond. "I see you playing games with the heart of my charge."

"I need her power," Link said, voice bland. "And I require her trust. You can hardly blame me for wishing to reclaim that which is mine."

Impa pursed her lips, but didn't respond. At last, she spoke. "Tell me what has happened in the four hundred years since I have seen you last," Impa instructed. "Tell me why there are no children of magic in the area, and why power is drawn away from those who possess it."

"It is a side effect of your Queen's Seal," Link responded. "An unforeseen side effect, but a consequence nonetheless. The Seal has weakened. The Beast King has been able to leech power from the surrounding lands, to strengthen himself over this age. He is about to break free." His voice was low, foreboding. Impa nodded, her face solemn.

"You know the evil that resides in the Beast King's body well, Sire. You have been under the same Seal for many years," she said. It was the first time Zelda had heard Impa speak with such respect to anyone— not even her own father. "If you share your knowledge with me, it will make it that much easier for me to aid the Princess, and in turn free you from your curse."

Link sighed. He ran a single long finger against the seam where mask met skin in a self-conscious movement.

"Your Queen was very clever, binding the two of us together so and using the magic of my Debt to hold us here. It kept me from unraveling, and forced me to do what I could to keep the dark powers at bay. But the Seal has weakened, slowly, over these many years, and the evil that has laid dormant in the Beast King's body has begun to stir. It has begun to suck magical energy into its' corrupted form, to build itself up and become stronger; just as the evil sucks magical energy, so does the seal draw mortal energy from the land and the people. Thus the barrenness of the region. As one who is bound to the seal, this too strengthens me, much as I despise it." Link stopped and took a deep breath. Then he shook his head once before continuing.

"Because of the nature of my relationship with the Beast King, I am unable to enter his territory, just as his body is unable to enter into mine. This means that, of all the magical creatures in this area, I and the Guardian Spirit alone have remained exempt from the drain. When I saw what was happening, I lulled the creatures of the woods into hibernation— turned them into trees and stones. And so the Beast King is a master without a kingdom.

"But I have had time to watch the evil within his body gain strength, just as I'm sure it has watched me. It has lately attracted other Dark Creatures to the area, and the Beast King has been able to ensnare some of them so that they might do its' bidding. I am uncertain of what lies in wait within the King's wards, but I am certain that, at the center of the ward— and possibly even the anchor of the ward— is the Seal."

"So to kill the evil," Impa said calmly, "we must first unleash it, Goddess help us."

Link nodded. "I don't know what will happen to me if the seal is broken, though I am mostly certain it will release me from this cursed form and allow me to better use my own powers," he added. "Though the magical core of this body is substantial, it alone is not enough to defeat the Darkness; I must discover a way to hold my form long enough to assist the Princess in the purification of the Beast King so that we may restore all things to their proper state."

"You will not make the same error as last time?" Impa asked, blinking her red eyes for the first time since the conversation had begun.

"I have learned that the magic of mortals is unavailable to me," Link responded. He sounded bitter. "I believed that taking the shape of a mortal might allow me to use mortal magic, but I understand now that I can no more use the Light magic of your Princess to slay evil than she could use the might of my own Wild magic to make tea leaves."

The two were silent for a long while. Finally, Impa spoke again.

"What must I do?" she asked. "How can I weaken it from the inside?"

"The evil within the Beast King is weakest against Light magic, and barring that, Holy magic," Link said. "The Sheikah have some sacred powers, I am certain. You must allow the evil to capture you. Once this has happened, it will begin to drain you, though if you expend a small and steady stream of magic, it will likely feed upon that instead of your core. If you weaken it enough, the Princess ought to be able to be able to break the Seal with little enough difficulty, and I will be able to assist from there."

"I will go tonight," Impa said. "I am putting my faith in you, Majesty, that you will not mislead my charge. You have tasted the wrath of a Queen; a second betrayal would have far more dire consequences."

Link stilled, but nodded once. Impa sighed into the night.

"Forgive me, my Princess," she said.

The darkness melted.

—

Zelda surfaced from the vision to find herself still kneeling on the floor of the tower room, arm outstretched, fingers just barely touching the Dark Orb. She yanked her hand back as though she'd been burned.

"Princess?" Sheik asked, red eyes concerned.

"Impa left me a memory," she said, still reeling. "She's here, somewhere. Trying to weaken the… whatever it is that's trapped in here. She and… and Link think that the wards are keyed to the seal that the man in black was talking about…" Zelda gulped. She felt shaky and sick. What had Impa and Link been talking about? Bonding? Had he been using her all along? Had the man in white been right?

Now wasn't the time to worry about that.

With some difficulty, she pushed her fears from her mind, taking a few deep breaths. She looked over at Sheik.

"I guess what we need to do is find the seal," Zelda said. "Before the magical core on this necklace is depleted and the drain starts in on me. The first step will be getting out of this room, though…"

Zelda lapsed into silence, staring pensively at the door. She could hear the bokoblin guards shifting just beyond it. How would she get out of the room?

Trying to ignore the claustrophobia that squeezed at her lungs as she looked around the tiny room, Zelda approached the windows, through which massive tree roots clawed their ways in, crumbling the stone and mortar below them. Zelda touched a snaking tree root the size of her forearm, ruefully remembering the way that Link had summoned tree roots from the ground to do his bidding. She wished that she had that ability. She wished the tree root would peel away.

In a moment of curiosity, she pulled on the power that rested within the thick, spiny vine wrapped around her core, and she pushed at the tree root.

Nothing happened.

Zelda resisted the urge to stomp her foot in frustration. She looked around the room. There had to be a way to get out. She would _not_ die here.

"Mistress."

Zelda's eyes shot to Sheik. He still crouched in the center of the floor, surrounded by Zelda's Light shield.

"Mistress, there is a way," Sheik said quietly. "But it is dangerous. It could like as not destroy us both."

"What is it?" Zelda asked, kneeling down next to Sheik, heart in her throat.

"We can walk in the shadows," Sheik said. "I can tread the Sheikah path and take you with me. But the shadows are a dangerous place, and many temptations will call out to you. They will try to corrupt you. You must not let them."

"What happens if I fail?" Zelda asked, voice a breath.

Sheik's lips thinned.

"The least that will happen is that you'll strengthen the evils that lie within these wards," Sheik finally said. "The worst… would be cataclysmic. I would not even suggest it, Princess, except that I see no other way."

She didn't have a choice. She didn't like it. She _really_ didn't like it, but she forced herself to straighten. "Very well, then," said Zelda with a nod, voice shaking only slightly. "Let us go."

"A last warning," Sheik said to Zelda, taking her hands. "The Silent Realm is treacherous. You will be tested. Are you prepared?"

"I am," whispered Zelda.

"You will lose your form, and I can not carry you," Sheik whispered. "Follow the sound of my voice. It will be easiest if you keep your eyes shut, I think. Only open them if I say so— can you do this?"

"Yes," said Zelda. Resignation warred with pride on the Sheikah's face as he pressed two fingers to her forehead. Zelda closed her eyes.

She felt her body dissolving as everything grew cold. She wanted to look around, but she resisted; she heard Sheik's quiet murmur.

"This way, Princess."

She followed, willing herself forward.

It was a strange thing, moving without a body— she felt as though she was water flowing through water. Something massive and cold brushed against her. Fear pounded through her consciousness. Sheik began to hum under his breath, his mellow tenor tracing the familiar notes of the royal lullaby. Zelda felt herself calm, and continued to will herself forward, following the comforting tune.

Sheik's humming grew slightly louder as Zelda heard the first hissing whispers, and felt cold, snaking tendrils touch her formless being. Zelda pushed her fear to the back of her mind and followed the sound of Sheik's voice, willing herself not to scatter as something cold and jagged passed harmlessly though her. It was an unsettling sensation— for a moment, Zelda was startled enough that she stopped moving, but began to immediately feel sluggish, and willed herself on, after Sheik.

_Perhaps this is what it is like to be a cloud_, Zelda thought to herself, randomly and whimsically as she continued to follow the sound of Sheik's voice. She could touch nothing, had no shape, and yet was acutely aware of the space that she occupied— or didn't occupy. It was difficult to fully fathom her current state of existence. She was acutely aware of every sensation; every eddy of air, every sudden plunge in temperature, every hissing whisper passed straight through her, burning itself into her brain. She willed herself again towards Sheik's humming.

She began to feel hazy and strange. Unfamiliar thoughts began to uncoil in her consciousness. And yet…

Sheik stopped humming at the same moment that an unpleasant shock of nothingness hit her in a nauseating wave. She felt her formless body tipped as though she was a small boat on a stormy sea.

"Imagine a shape for yourself, Princess," came Sheik's voice. "Will yourself into a body. Impa is near."

Zelda went slamming back into her own form, wobbling as one of her toes failed to materialize. She opened her eyes and looked around at the hazy world, then down at herself. She looked as though she was made of smoke. She tried to speak, but found she had no tongue or teeth; as soon as she imagined them being there, she felt them pop into existence. She wondered what other body parts or organs she was missing, but decided it would be best not to worry about it.

"Impa?" Zelda asked, looking around. Sheik was beside Zelda, and the Princess took a moment to eye her protector in his native realm. His body had become a hybrid of human and animal; golden feathers were mingled with his hair and in his long braid. His traditional kusari mail had become coated in thick, metallic-looking feathers. His tenugui was wrapped around his face, covering his mouth and nose. Only his red eyes shone out, bright and angry looking.

"Impa has been corrupted," Sheik said quietly. "Dark powers have seized her and transformed her. Likely this is a test the Goddesses have set for you, Princess, as remittance for entering into their realm."

"What do I do?" Zelda asked. "How do I fight in this realm?"

"The same way you fight in your own," Sheik responded. "However, magic moves much quicker here because this is not a physical place."

"Wait, what does that mean?" Fluttering wings of panic were beating at Zelda's chest and throat.

"It means that Impa is going to be very, very fast," Sheik said gravely. "And you must be faster. Purify the Darkness in her. I will protect you as best as I am able."

Zelda set her teeth, calling upon the purifying Light within her. It answered her faster than she expected; instead of the normal build and rise, it was simply there the second Zelda reached for it.

A Gohma lumbered out of the nothingness. While the Gohma that Zelda and Impa had battled nearly a week ago had been a bulbous, hairy thing, this spider was long and lithe. Its' legs were slender, almost graceful, and glossy, shining in the weird half-light that permeated the silent realm. What Zelda could see of the Gohma's abdomen was that it was longer and slimmer than the other's had been; the spider moved, and Zelda saw the massive stinger attached. She raised her eyes to look for the Gohma's weak point, remembering the eye, and was suddenly incredibly grateful that she wasn't in her real physical form, otherwise she would have lost the contents of her stomach; instead of a golden eye, Impa's blank face looked back out at Zelda.

"Sheik," Zelda whispered. "Goddesses, is that…."

"She has been twisted by Dark powers, Princess," Sheik responded, stepping forward. He held a kodachi blade in either hand. "You _must_ purify her."

Impa caught sight of them then, and her glowing red eyes rolled once in her head, back and all the way around until all Zelda could see was white, and then the red irises appeared again from underneath Impa's lower lid like the rising sun. She smiled, revealing jagged teeth; as Zelda watched in horror, Impa's canines elongated until they were two massive mandibles, dripping reeking ichor. Zelda swallowed once thickly.

"She is not the Impa you know, Princess," Sheik called to her, shaking her from her horrified trance as the Gohma rapidly advanced, body skittering. Zelda steeled herself, nodding once, and reached again for the Light powers. She shot a dart directly at Impa's face. The Gohma let out a horrible scream, and a blast of Shadow mingled with Dark magic flew at Zelda before she could even think to summon a shield. A quick movement from Sheik negated the Shadow, but the Dark magic still slammed into Zelda, flipping her over. Zelda coughed, winded, as she landed on the hard floor. Something cold and clammy wrapped around her ankle. Zelda vaporized it with a lightning move of Light, and moved back into the fray, occupied with figuring out how to purify Impa without hurting her.

Sheik was batting aside blasts of Shadow that Impa threw his way, wrapping them back together in a great tornado that was building taller and taller beside him. Zelda said a Word of Power and turned her hands, feeling the magic flow through and out of her as she threw a wide blast of Wind at the Gohma, trying to knock it off balance. It teetered, and Zelda made a raising motion with her hands. The earth underneath the Gohma shook, and Zelda used the distraction as an opportunity to throw a bolt of Light at Impa's face. It connected, and the monster screamed, then clambered to its feet and shot venomous webbing at Zelda. A burst of Fire dissolved it, though a splash of the burning fluid landed on Zelda's arm and she hissed as it ate through her skin, conjuring a massive net of Light all the same.

Sheik had finished building his tornado. With a smooth, underhand slice, he sent it flying towards the Gohma. The Light web caught in the tornado, and wrapped around the monster. Impa's face screamed in agony and Zelda called the ends of the net to her hands. They flew to her and she willed them to pass through the Gohma, to purify, but not to hurt.

The Gohma shrieked again as the light passed through it and it began to writhe. Dark magic consumed it in a black cloud. Zelda reshaped the net into a whip and swung it around the darkness, which screamed again and reshaped itself into the horrible Bongo Bongo. Zelda felt nauseated and weak. Where the big red eye had been seated in the stump of the neck before, now Impa's bloody face looked out at Zelda, framed by strips of rotting flesh.

"Her hands and her face are her weak points, Princess," Sheik called over to Zelda. She was feeling a drain on her magic, but couldn't stop yet; once she was out of the silent realm, she'd drink a green potion. She had to focus on purifying Impa as quickly as possible.

Zelda went to zap one of the Bongo Bongo's hands with Light, but found herself thrown aside like a ragdoll by one meaty, rotting fist. Zelda rolled a couple of times on the ground, gasping for air, and pushed herself up just in time to see a second massive hand descending on her, to smash her. With a cry, Zelda threw herself to one side, and felt the hem of her dress slammed to the ground, jerking her back. She pulled forward and it ripped away. She stumbled at the sudden loss of tension and caught herself just as the Bongo Bongo made another swipe at her. She jumped to the side, even as Sheik wrapped a chain of Shadow around one of the massive hands, pinning it to the ground. Zelda used the opportunity to flood it with Light. The flesh withered and rotted away, even as Impa's face let out a horrible scream. Zelda choked down a rise of bile and jumped out of the way a wild punch thrown by the second fist. She gasped for air, and promised herself that if she lived through this, she would train with Ashei every day. Her muscles were already burning.

Remembering how Impa had fought the Gohma in the woods, Zelda pulled on the powerful Shadow magic that was all around her, harnessing it in a complicated hand motion. Sheik, seeing what Zelda was doing, threw up a shield and immediately transformed into his falcon form, swooping and diving at the Bongo Bongo. Impa's glowing eyes immediately fixed on Sheik, buying Zelda the time that she needed to pull the Shadow into a number of lumbering, mindless forms. She wrapped a small circle of Light around each of them and propelled them at the Bongo Bongo.

Impa was instantly distracted. She hissed, baring her jagged teeth, as the zombies shuffled forwards. Zelda used the opportunity to summon a javelin of Light and fling it into Impa's face. She screamed, and Zelda vaporized the second massive hand. She cast out another blanket of Light and wove it around the Bongo Bongo, and again willed it to purify the Dark magic that had taken hold of the Sheikah.

As with the first time, Impa shrieked and began to writhe as she vanished into a black cloud. Zelda shot beams of purifying Light into the cloud, but to no avail; it passed through the Darkness harmlessly, and Zelda cursed the waste in magic. She took a deep breath, readying her stance, as Sheik materialized again next to her, knitting his body out of the surrounding shadows.

What came out of the black cloud was a massive wolf, larger than a horse, with empty eye sockets. It opened its' mouth, exposing long, pointed teeth dripping with venom, and deep within the maw Zelda could see Impa's battered face. She pushed aside the guilt and watched helplessly as the wolf closed her mouth, growling.

"Sheik," Zelda gasped, "what do we do?"

"Disable her somehow," responded Sheik. He and Zelda dove away from each other as a blast of pure Dark magic sliced between the two.

"How?"

"I don't know," said Sheik. "None of us know. You're a sorceress. Think of something!"

The comment smarted, but Zelda shoved it aside. Sheik was right. She was a sorceress, and had earned it on her own, and she could do this even if Sheik didn't know how to proceed.

Wolf, Zelda thought, calling up all the magical knowledge she could as she dodged the snapping maw. Possibly a warg. Weak points could include neck, chest, stomach. All of which were protected. There was no chance of sneaking around behind the creature— it was too massive and too fast. On an experiment, Zelda shot a blast of flame, singeing the wolf's nose. It yelped, briefly exposing Impa's face deep within.

"Sheik, hurt it," Zelda shouted. "Make it yelp and I'll blast Light down her throat."

Sheik wasted no time in sending a dart of Shadow at the wolf's ear. It yelped, and Zelda aimed a dart of Light into the maw, but missed; cursing under her breath, she leaned back, arching as she made a throwing motion with both hands. Sheik blasted the wolf again, and on the heels of that blast, Zelda sent a massive wave of Light and Water at the wolf. It splashed up against the wolf's fur and into it's mouth. The wolf spluttered and then yelped as the purification hit Impa's face, deep within the gullet.

Zelda felt the sudden drain of expending so much magic. A moment of panic overtook her. She was being wasteful. She might expend all her magic purifying Impa, and then have nothing left for breaking the seal.

That couldn't happen.

If Zelda had had the time, which she didn't, she would have sat down in a corner somewhere and stared at a wall, puzzling out the situation. However, she didn't have that luxury. So as she sent little splashes of Light and Water at the wolf, she thought furiously and fast.

She was in the silent realm. She hadn't had a body until she visualized one. That meant that, for all intents and purposes, all that she was perceiving was (probably) pure magic that she, Impa, and Sheik had constructed to appear as they wished it to.

A blast of burning Dark caught her in the arm. She hissed and jumped aside as Sheik began firing fast darts of Shadow magic at the wolf, trying to stun it.

If none of their shapes were real, and were only manifestations of their willpower, then that meant that the wolf didn't exist. So if the wolf didn't exist, then where the wolf was was actually just a cloud of Dark magic intertwined in the essence that was Impa, right? And assuming Zelda's supposition was correct, she ought to be able to burn away the Darkness if she could will herself to see beyond the projected shapes, to the reality of the silent realm. But was that even possible? Or would she be torn apart my magical forces if she tried?

She suddenly furiously wished she'd paid more attention to the endless philosophizing of the magicians at the Academy.

"Sheik," Zelda cried, "distract it. I'm going to try something."

Sheik nodded, springing forward so that his body blocked the path to Zelda as he began to furiously engage the wolf. Zelda slipped into herself, into a meditative trance, willing herself to see beyond the illusions of the silent realm.

It wasn't easy work, and Zelda warred within herself. Her eyes screamed that what she was seeing was real; it was no easy task to overcome that. Zelda began by focusing her sight on the weave of magic around her. She could see the flowing power that was Sheik, and the oily cloud that formed Impa. But she willed herself to look past even that, past shapes; all the wanted to see was magic. That was all there was.

The shift happened suddenly. In one moment, it was like looking at the world through water; in the next, her sense of sound and touch and smell were gone, and all she saw was bunches of power, the ebb and flow of magic around her. And she could see, clearly, the mass of Dark, and deep at its center, a bit of thrashing Shadow.

Zelda pulled on the Light that was her, and she began to burn away at the Dark surrounding the tiny, thrashing Shadow that was Impa. She felt it the moment she began to dissolve into the world around her, her body gone, her soul and powers spreading out, being absorbed into the world. Zelda willed her power to stay together, much as she had willed her formless being into wholeness, as she kept burning away at the power. Still, she was spreading, separating, getting weaker; she had made a dent. Just a little longer, she thought dazedly, even as her consciousness began to trickle away.

She was a beam of Light. Her only purpose was to blast away the Darkness. She would do it. She would.

She was chipping away at it. More than chipping away at it. The Darkness was receding, thrashing, even as she burned it into helplessness and immobility. She was nameless. She was nothing, nothing but power and magic. The Darkness was almost gone, almost harmless. So close. So very close. A last burst of power would kill it, and her task would be completed.

The last of the Darkness vanished. The Shadow slumped. She wanted to keep burning. To keep purifying. _No,_ the last fragment of Zelda's consciousness screamed. _Don't!_

The power pulled back. And suddenly, everything returned, sucking inward as though Zelda was the drain at the bottom of a basin. She felt her powers, her consciousness, her spirit all pulling back in… and more. She was sucking the world into herself, expanding and filling. The agony consumed her. And then, quite suddenly, everything went white.

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><p><em>Uploaded Sunday, January 29, 2012, at 10:10 PM Central <em>


	8. The Unmaking

"_What is happening to me?"_

_Zelda was kneeling beside a man who was convulsing in the snow. Hot tears were streaming down her cheek._

"_You're being possessed," Her voice was shaking. "Oh, Goddesses."_

"_Make it stop," he shouted. Blood was welling from between his lips. "Kill me if you have to. Purify it."_

_She reached within her, to her Light magic. It was so severely depleted that it was nearly nonexistent. "I… I can't." She began to shake. "I'm not strong enough. But I can't kill you— that won't stop it." _

_He convulsed again. His blue eyes switched to black, then back to blue. "Make it stop. Please, Zelda, make it stop."_

_She swallowed once. Her throat was thick. "I can't," Zelda responded. "Not completely. But there is something..."_

_His blue eyes bore into hers. His handsome face was twisted in agony and sadness._

"_Do it," he gasped. Zelda shook her head._

"_It will hurt," she said quietly, agony welling within her own breast. "It will leave you with a half-life for eons."_

_He convulsed again. _

"_Just do it!" he shouted. Zelda choked on a sob and scrambled to her feet, waving her hands above the man. He screamed and began to thrash as his body ever-so-slowly began to levitate. Dim light surrounded him, a brilliant green warring with sickly looking purple. Zelda kept up steady whispering under her breath, even as tears began to trickle down her cheeks. The light ever so slowly grew brighter and brighter, spheres of green separating. It took a long while, and the man writhed and shouted in constant agony, until at last all that was left around him was purple-black. His body sagged into unconsciousness. Zelda pulled the slender sword out of the sheath at her waist with shaking hands. With a cry, she sank it into the man's stomach as the blade glowed with pure white Light. The man convulsed, shouting in agony, eyes opening wide to reveal red and gold._

_His body sagged again, and then slowly lowered back to the ground as his eyes shut once more. Zelda began to murmur Words again, and watched as tree roots twined out of the snow to encircle the man's body, until all that remained visible was the sword and his face. Above him was the green light, hovering in a great, glowing cloud. Zelda wrapped her hands around the pendant around her neck and poured her power into it, whispering Word after Word of Power. When it was done, she took the chain in her hands, extended it towards the glowing cloud, and released it. The pendant floated over into the green light, which resolved itself into a wolf. Below, the mask of a wolf appeared over the man's face. Zelda touched the cool porcelain once._

"_I give this Protective Token freely as a sign of adoration," she whispered. "And I beg that you might forgive me one day for failing you."_

_She stood, slowly, and backed away, even as the man's hair began to darken to brown and his mangled body began to fade— mask, sword, tree roots, and all. All that remained was a great black wolf, staring balefully at Zelda with bright blue eyes as it sat in the snow._

"_To keep the evil from escaping, I'm sealing this domain," Zelda said to the wolf. She felt a knife twist in her heart. "I will be using your power for this, and the last of my own. Perhaps you will find a way to drive the Darkness out and reclaim your body. I don't know. But… I have to protect my country first. I'm so sorry."_

_She drew on the last of her incredible energy, shouting the strongest Word she knew. The world flashed white. When the glare faded, Zelda looked out onto the barren landscape, falling to her knees as she felt the soul bond unravel, taking her magical core with it. She gasped quietly in agony, raising a shaking hand to her chest and pressing the flesh there, which was weeping slow beads of blood._

_The pine trees, once so beautiful and lush, had twisted under the weight of her strength. And below the boughs of one tall, twisted pine, the wolf sat, watching her with his incredible blue eyes. _

"_You've used too much power, Highness," said Impa, appearing without warning in the shadows next to Zelda._

"_I know," she responded, voice a whisper, eyes on the wolf. A pool of blood was spreading beneath her._

"_You've tied up much of the kingdom's natural power in the Seal," Impa continued. "Likely, this will affect your line and the strength of your daughters will be diminished."_

"_I had no other choice," Zelda said. A trickle of blood ran from between her lips. "I did not, nor have I ever, possessed enough strength alone to defeat the monster, and the seal that I have placed on…." Her voice hitched. She stopped, took a rattling breath, and started again. "The spell will not allow his physical form to access his full power. His spiritual form will remain here, until the evil has been purified from his body. This will keep the nature of this place in balance until… until I or another of my line can return to finish the work I have started."_

"_You're dying."_

_Zelda let out a shaky breath. "I know," she responded. "But the Royal Family will go on. My child…" Zelda's face twisted as she remembered the daughter she'd left in the safekeeping of the Deku Tree. She reached for Impa with one hand, seeping blood. The Sheikah took it without thought, grasping Zelda's slippery fingers even as skin began to slide off her fingers. "You must ensure that, one day, a daughter of my blood can come back here and umake my errors."_

"_I swear it will be done, my Queen."_

_Nodding once, Zelda cast her eyes to the charcoal colored wolf._

"_Speak to none of what has trespassed here," she instructed Impa, feeling the fabric that held her together dissolving. "Keep the knowledge from the others of your kind."_

"_I swear it."_

_Zelda sighed._

"_And now I bind my own soul to this place," she whispered to the wolf. "I, too, will pay a high price for your folly."_

_She sighed. The snowy ground rose up to meet her like open arms even as her flesh dissolved into nothing._

She slammed back into her body in a horrible, jarring moment. Impa stood before her dressed all in black and gold, smiling. There was something softer about Impa's face than there had been before; in the light of the silent realm she looked gentler. Younger.

"Well done, Princess Zelda," Impa said, extending a hand. A Dark orb rested in it— the physical, confined manifestation of the Darkness that had corrupted Impa. "You have passed the trial the Goddesses set for you."

Zelda clutched her pounding head, shaking, feeling nauseated. Her whole body was throbbing. She'd been filled too full, then squeezed too tight.

"I feel like I got hugged by a gibdo," groaned Zelda, even as she staggered forward towards Impa. "Nayru's thunder, Impa, I'm so glad you're ok."

The Sheikah opened her arms wide and Zelda lunged gratefully into them, inhaling the familiar smell of her. Unexpected tears poured down Zelda's cheeks, soaking Impa's shoulder as the princess shuddered and shook with heaving sobs.

"All is well, Zelda," said Impa. "I am whole again, thanks to you."

"I was so scared," Zelda whispered. "I'm still so scared."

"You've passed the trial," Impa said soothingly. "And the Goddesses will reward you."

"I- what?"

Zelda looked up at Impa, who was smiling down at her.

"The silent realm is a land of shadows and of trials. The entire life of a Sheikah is one great trial; thus it is that my kind can traverse the shadows with ease. But for you, a mortal, to enter into the silent realm, is to invite a test of the Goddesses upon yourself. Failure is catastrophic, but success is greatly rewarded. Break this orb and claim your prize, Princess."

Zelda had forgotten that Impa was clutching the Dark orb. She took it with shaking hands and then smashed it on the ground. It immediately became dust, and the Darkness was absorbed by the magic of the world.

"Look within yourself, to your core." Impa's voice was a soothing wave.

Zelda did so, and was stunned to find that her magical resources had been replenished, and then some. She was stronger— not a lot stronger, but enough. She cast her eyes back up to Impa in surprise.

"You've done well, and I'm proud of you," Impa said tenderly. She cast her eyes to the man standing behind the Princess. "You as well, Sheik. But now the greater battle is at hand. Are you ready?"

Zelda took a fortifying breath. "I am," she said, voice unwavering.

The muted blues and pinks of the silent realm faded and Zelda found herself standing back in the underground castle.

She was in what looked to be a formal throne room, standing on the arched ceiling. Far above her, on a raised dais, laid the body of a man. He looked much the same as the chestnut-haired man Zelda had seen earlier, the one who had also named himself Link; however, a delicate sword was plunged straight through his stomach. He looked peaceful, as though he was sleeping. On his face was the same wolf's half-mask that Zelda's Link had worn.

She felt very ill.

"Impa?" Zelda asked, looking up at the man lying on the ceiling. "What's going on?"

"All will be explained later," Impa responded, her voice low and soothing. "You must trust me, Princess. Call the sword to break the seal; it will come to your hand."

Zelda shut her eyes, willing the sword to her. She could sense it, sense that familiar, old power attached to it; reaching her hand out, she found the flow of the power with her magic and pulled. The response was instantaneous: the sword came to her, fitting into her palm as smoothly as though it was made for her, and a strangely familiar and comforting magic washed over her for a brief breath.

Then, in a sickening tip of vertigo, the world righted itself, and Zelda found herself falling the horrible, long way down to the paraquet floor of the throne room.

She landed on her hip painfully and bit her lip, tasting blood. Impa likewise thudded to the ground beside her, even as Sheik transformed into a falcon and pulled into a clumsy dive. He slid onto the floor, black feathers shining, as Zelda scrambled to her feet.

On the dais, the man from the throne room floated above the man in the wolf mask. As Zelda watched, the man from the throne room's body turned more and more transparent, until at last he vanished.

The man in the wolf mask opened his eyes. Zelda recoiled. Instead of white, his eyeballs were pure red, and his pupil-less irises were glowing yellow.

"Thank you, Princess, for freeing me," he said. His voice was smooth and seductive. Zelda felt warm. Her eyes fluttered shut as the spell of his words washed over her. "Your generosity is nearly as great as your beauty."

Her breath deepened. Everything would be alright now. All of her worries, all of her fears… everything would be ok. Warmth enveloped her, soothing. Gentle. It cared.

The pendant against her chest heated suddenly, burning her. Her eyes snapped open and she came back to herself. She'd been encased in sticky, Dark webbing. Zelda began to thrash, panicking. The man laughed that same high, evil laugh she'd heard after Chancellor Makivelo had his energy drained. Terror kicked in, and in an instinctive move, she sent a shockwave of Light, burning away the webbing. Beside her, Impa, was struggling feebly. Sheik was nowhere to be seen. Zelda circled a beam of Light around Impa, freeing her.

The man _tsk_ed. Impa went flying into a wall and crumpled.

"So feisty, my Queen," he said. In the blink of an eye he stood before Zelda, gently caressing her cheek with the back of his hand. Zelda sent out a shockwave of Light but it vanished instantly as the masked man easily dragged his slim knuckles down her jawline. He cupped her chin, thumb tracing small circles near the corner of her lips, even as Zelda struggled against him, thrashing and pushing. It was like fighting the side of a mountain. He remained unmoving. The hand that held the sword was pinned uselessly between her body and his.

_Link, _thought Zelda in a panic,_ where are you?_

Impa, in the meantime, laid unmoving in a crumpled heap by the wall. Zelda swallowed a thick lump of terror and looked back at the man, fisting her hands in her skirt.

"Who are you?"

The masked man's hands had moved to Zelda's hair. His eyes and brow were thoughtful as he twined his fingers in the brilliant strands.

"I am the King of Beasts," he said. "At least partly. I possess his body and mind, though I wield the power of the Demon King."

"The demigod?" Zelda asked, heartbeat a heavy drum of fear in her chest.

"Yes," he said. "The dark power that fills me has many names. He is the wrath incarnate of the ultimate Demon, and has used many pawns; the ancient Picori sorcerer, whose legend you know; the undying Thief is a second you'll be familiar with; this spirit's name is Malladus, and he says that I am the finest pawn he has commanded… or would be if I could corral my troublesome powers back into this form."

Zelda's head was spinning.

"Powers?" she asked, eyes on Impa in worry as the Sheikah began to feebly stir.

"That horrible dog who has been so ardently pursuing you," the man responded. "He possesses the exorcised soul of this body, and the powers of the King of Beasts; your ancestor, I believe, is responsible for the schism between the two of us. Nevertheless, I don't doubt that he'll be present soon enough. But in the meantime…"

Zelda felt herself thrown back against the wall, the sword clattering out of her hand and sliding across the cracked paraquet flooring. She let loose an involuntary cry as her back connected, hard, with the stone. Agony flared up her spine as her hands were pinned on either side of her head and she slid, slowly, up the wall, feet dangling below her. The corrupted King approached, step by menacing step.

"You are a pretty thing, aren't you?" he asked, his soft voice wrapping around her like an embrace. He stood before her, "It's such a shame you're so fond of Light. Such rebellion is unsuitable in my Queen." His fingers tangled again in the wild snarl that Zelda's hair had been transformed into over the course of the past few hours. His voice was thoughtful. "But I will take pleasure in beating it out of you."

She turned her head to the side as his lips brushed against her cheek. He chuckled in his throat, then backhanded her. Zelda tasted blood as tears burned her eyes.

"Such fire," he mused. "It will be a pleasure to tame you, Queen of Beasts."

Zelda spit out a mouthful of blood. "I'm not your Queen," she bit, voice a low and ragged cry.

"No?"

He'd grabbed her left hand, the scarred one, in a single forceful movement and yanked it forward, inspecting the jagged claw marks with a critical yellow eye.

"This soul bond says otherwise," he said simply. "Though I'll admit, I'm currently not in possession of my soul, as it's running ragged— pesky thing— but I'll capture it soon. With the powers of the Beast King, and a bond with a Hylian Princess, I will be unstoppable."

Zelda felt ill. This was not happening. Couldn't be happening. She wouldn't lose.

Her thoughts must have showed on her face because the corrupted King laughed again, low in his throat.

"You can fight me," he said, voice a low growl, "but you will fail."

He moved towards her again, and it was as his nose brushed against hers that a sleek black falcon reared out of Zelda's shadow, plunging his beak towards one of the corrupted King's eyes. He recoiled with a scream as the orb popped, goo oozing down his handsome face, which had twisted into an ugly snarl.

"Cursed meddling Sheikah," he growled. But Sheik had afforded Zelda the moment she needed to rip herself out of the man's spell. On the other side of the room, Impa was on her feet, blades in hand, charging towards Zelda.

"Behind me, Princess," Sheik said, transforming into a man in midair. Zelda slid behind him as he moved his twin kodachi into a guarding stance.

"Fool," snarled the Beast King. He sent a blast of Darkness at Sheik but Zelda swiftly raised a quick Light barrier.

"Leave the battle to me and Impa," Sheik said to Zelda. "Figure out how to purify him."

And the Sheikah was off, running beside Impa. The two of them circled, parried, dodged, ducked, and sprang, and it was beautiful to watch them work so seamlessly. Had the circumstances not been so dire, Zelda would have loved to spend hours observing the two. It looked as though they were dancing, even as their blades shone in glowing arcs. But it was a battle, and the corrupted King was fighting back, and Zelda didn't have much time. She ran to grab her sword, which was lying in a corner, thinking furiously as she dodged blasts and explosions.

Purification was advanced magic, both in theory and in practice. Magic was the binding force of all things, but so could it also be dissolved. Purification could be done one of three ways: eradication, dissolution, or consolidation.

Consolidation was the easiest method of the three, but also the least likely to work in this instance. It consisted of calling all the Dark magic into a single, lifeless entity, and then destroying it. This was how Impa had dealt with the Gohma, and how Zelda had dealt with Impa. She highly doubted that it would work on the corrupted King of Beasts.

Dissolution was not an option that Zelda was enamored with, either, as it didn't fully fix the problem. Dissolution would unbind the Dark magic from its' living host, but this in turn would release it out into the cosmos. Though it would be in a vast quantity of very small, single pieces of Dark magic, Zelda disliked the idea of scattering the makeup of a Demon's magic to the world. Which left her with eradication, the most difficult form of purification, one that she'd only read about once, briefly.

Eradication took a tremendous amount of Light power that would be destroyed, forever. She would take Light, and bind it to the Dark, and the two would make up Shadow. Zelda felt a little sick thinking about how much Light she would need to counteract the Darkness. Ordinary eradication was dangerous, and the technique was never used, only written in books, due to how many sorcerers and sorceresses had been injured in the process. Eradication on a scale of this magnitude would very likely kill her.

She skidded to a halt in front of the sword, her hand closing around the hilt. Power rushed through her. This sword was old, and powerful. Unwillingly, she recalled her vision. Could she sacrifice herself? Could she eradicate the demon that possessed the King of Beasts' body?

_Do it for Hyrule,_ she told herself as she whirled back to face the battle, remembering the Queen Zelda she had been in her strange dreams. Before her, Impa backflipped neatly out of the way just as Sheik executed a lighting-quick slice at the corrupted King, who blocked it. Sheik stepped smoothly to the side as Impa came down from above with a thrust, and he took another quick swipe at the Beast King, who countered both moves with a blast of Darkness that the Sheikah each nimbly avoided and contained. _The world is bigger than you are._

Trusting the Sheikah to keep her safe, Zelda clutched the sword tighter, shut her eyes and connected with her _locum tenens_, back in her private study in the castle. The small clay figure responded to the psychic connection instantly, and she hopped it forward until it stood before her bookshelf. From the perspective of the _locum_, each book was as tall as a flag staff, and the bookshelf reached in a mountainous monolith to the distant ceiling.

Though the sight of the world through her _locum_'s eyes often amused her, Zelda had other things to worry about, and instead called to a a thick tome, which wobbled forward off its' shelf and landed with a dusty thud beside the _locum_. The _locum_'s little clay hands flipped the pages until it came to the diagram that Zelda needed. A quick glance and she knew what she needed to do. She opened her eyes, severing the connection, and took a deep breath, pulling on her power.

It came to her as easily and quickly as it had in the silent realm, for which she was grateful. She began to weave the spell, whispering the Words very quietly under her breath as she constructed the mechanism for extracting the Darkness from the body of the Beast King. That would be the first step. Then, she would bind it to Light, the second step. The third step would be to meld the Light and Dark together with raw power— the step that most often resulted in injury and death. The step that was the reason why nobody had attempted an eradication in hundreds— if not thousands— of years.

_Don't think about it,_ Zelda reminded herself firmly._ Just do it. For Hyrule_.

The spell took shape within the sword, stronger for having a vessel to conduct it, and she thrust the sword into the air on instinct. The spell flew from the tip of the delicate blade and she flung it over the corrupted King of Beasts the same way that she would fling a sheet over a bed. He screamed and began to writhe, even as a cloud of Darkness began to rise from his form. In the same moment, the entire castle let out a noise rather like a shriek as Link slammed in through the doors. He held his own massive sword in his hand, and there was blood dripping from the blade and splattered across his body. A single streak adorned his wolf's mask like a red flag.

"You're late," Zelda managed even as he charged to stand beside her.

"Hi, Princess," he said, and then dove into the battle. As soon as he entered, Impa peeled out of the fight, and came to stand beside Zelda. She placed a hand on the Princess's shoulder, feather light. Steady power began to flow into her.

"You're doing well, Princess," Impa said, voice low and soothing. "Keep it up."

"I will not be denied!"

The Darkness had almost fully withdrawn from the man's body, and it formed a gigantic, horrible skull. As Zelda watched it turned a bright, nauseating blue, a blue that hurt to look at, a blue that writhed and squirmed and made Zelda feel thoroughly ill from the crown of her head down to the tips of her toes.

Below the blue cloud, the corrupted King of Beasts had begun to move in a way that reminded Zelda horribly of a marionette. His body, it seemed, was no longer confined by the rules that bound all other mortal forms to stay on the earth, and it instead swung wildly with superhuman speed. His eyes were shut.

"I'll handle the puppet," Link snarled, surging forward as Sheik dodged a nasty strike. For a brief moment, Zelda watched the battle— Link's body, too, began to ripple and change, shifting in part and in whole from man to wolf and back again as he battled against the body that, if her dreams and the demon were to be believed, once housed him.

"I need you to cover for me as much as you can," Zelda said to Impa as the horrible blue cloud began to undulate. It formed two hideous red-yellow eyes and an enormous red mouth split in a sickening smile. "I'll be busy trying to bind it."

"We will defend you," Sheik said solemnly. And then, again as one, the two Sheikah sprang into battle, this time moving directly after the spirit.

Again, Zelda set to work weaving the spell of Light that she would use, pressing it easily into the delicate sword she held in her hand. She felt herself tiring. Doggedly, she pushed onward, setting nodes and whispering Words and building a fabric of pure Light. Before her, Link tangled with the puppet, limbs moving in sinuous, unhuman curls. Tree roots rumbled up from the ground and wrapped around the puppet, who shattered them with superhuman strength in massive blasts. Link transformed into a wolf, jaws ripping, and then back into a man, sword slashing, even as the earth shook and quaked and tree roots writhed around the two. The puppet, not to be outdone, spun wildly, blasting and slicing and flying.

Debris from the battle flew over to where Impa and Sheik were engaged with the blue cloud, but were immediately vaporized as soon as they came within a ten foot radius, so strong were the magical attacks firing back and forth. Sheik had summoned massive Shadow tornadoes, while Impa was alternately wielding each of the elements against the demon, blasting and slicing, whipping and stunning. Fire, Water, and Wind moved in a blur, even as Impa strengthened herself and Sheik with defensive Questing spells. Both the Sheikah were beginning to lag, though, and Zelda hastened to finish her own enchantment. She felt her core weakening, even with the replenishing the Goddesses had given her. She bit her lip, hard enough to taste blood, and the pain spurred her on. She could not fail now.

She nearly crumpled with relief when she finished the fabric of Light, but instead she straightened her spine and twisted it around the perimeter of the battle the demon was having with Impa and Sheik, just beyond its' perception. Then, she squeezed, and the Light adhered to the Darkness. The cloud let loose an unholy cry even as Zelda chanted seven Words, in quick succession, to bind the thick blanket of Light to the Darkness. Around and around and around she wrapped the Light, binding layer after layer after layer of it to the Darkness, until the nightmarish blue cloud was impossible to see. But it was still there, she knew— there, at the center of so much Light, a pulsing heart of pure evil.

The Puppet swung wildly over towards Zelda, even as she felt her core beginning to crumble. She didn't have long now. The puppet's sword bit into Zelda's arm, but she ignored the pain, even as Link slammed the puppet aside with a fierce battle cry. It didn't matter. Her core was slowly coming apart, and she would dissolve, becoming part of magic, because she'd used too much magic. Drawn too much on the capacity of her core to take the power of the world around her and convert it into something she could use. Control was an illusion, and all magic had its price.

She would pay that price.

Zelda gathered the sheer power of the world around her, the immensity of it, and pulled it through her core. She didn't shape it into Wind or Fire or Water as she normally would, didn't pull it into Light or Quest or anything else; instead, as she began to rapidly dissolve, she dragged the rawness of the world around her through what was left of Zelda, took aim at the ball of Light, and let fly.

It was the most beautiful, spectacular thing Zelda had ever seen. Colors that she hadn't dreamt of, sweet scents that reminded her of childhood, a low singing like music— this was Pure magic. The magic of the Goddesses. The blood of the world.

There was a noise rather like the shattering of a thousand glass windows. The puppet dropped like a rock. The great ball of Light and Dark melded together, bleeding into each other and swirling. Zelda could hear a high-pitched screaming— the Demon, no doubt. Her core had come completely unraveled at this point, and she sank to the ground, marveling at the agony as her heart stopped beating.

"Link," she whispered quietly, even as he stared down at his body. She couldn't hear him, only see the movement of his mouth, the way his hands reached for the form of his twin in the wolf mask.

And then she dissolved into the cosmos.

—

It was incredible. Ribbons of magic twined their way through the fabric of reality, thousands of different, beautiful colors. The same singing she'd heard in the throne room was still there, hundreds and thousands of voices raised together. The smell was something familiar, just beyond the reach of her memory. And then it all faded, and she was lying on a cool, perfectly white expanse that had neither start nor end. In the same thought, she was standing, or perhaps the expanse had simply reoriented to suit her better.

Funny; she hadn't thought that death would be quite like this.

The whiteness began to resolve itself into the Academy. Zelda stifled the urge to groan. After all she'd done, she was going to spend eternity cooped up in some stupid tower?

"Well done, Daughter," said a quiet voice.

Zelda's eyes snapped up. Sitting in an armchair before her was a woman who looked familiar. She dazedly recognized it as a painting of Queen Zelda IX, who had lived and died hundreds of years ago.

There was some resemblance between the two of them, Zelda thought, looking at the face that the painting hadn't quite managed to capture. But not much. Queen Zelda was beautiful; her hair was not brown, nor was it blonde, nor red, but an interesting in between that was something like auburn. She had pale blue eyes that, strangely enough, reminded Princess Zelda of Link. Her face was long and serene, her eyes narrower than Zelda's, her entire body lithe and wraithlike. But there was something— something in the set of the mouth, in the gentle slope of the nose, that hinted at relation between the two.

"Where are we?" Zelda asked the Queen.

"We are neither here, nor there," the Queen said, fluttering one elegant hand. "We are in between realms, where the flow of magic is the strongest."

"I see," Zelda said, even though she didn't, not really. If the Queen caught her lie, she didn't say, but a gentle smile crept onto her face.

"Let me look at you," the Queen said, rising from the armchair and gliding forward with grace that even Julietta would have envied. Zelda's stomach wrenched as she thought of her sister and her betrayal, but then returned her focus to the Queen. Zelda stood very still as she was inspected, feeling bulky in the presence of such ethereal beauty. She could feel every snarl still in her hair, the rips and tears on her gown, the blood on her sleeve. But the Queen didn't seem to notice that— instead, Zelda had the feeling that the Queen was looking straight through Zelda, to her soul.

"I am so proud of you," Queen Zelda said finally. "You are so lovely, my Zelda. So brave, and strong. You have suffered, and you have triumphed, and I apologize for my hand in your fate."

Zelda wanted to reassure the Queen that it wasn't ok, wasn't her fault, but the words stuck. Was it? She didn't know. Instead, Zelda fumbled out, "What exactly is going on?"

"You're not dead," the Queen said. "At least, not yet. If you wish to pass on into the land of the Goddesses, you may."

"I have a choice?" Zelda asked.

The Queen nodded once. "You do," she said simply. "You may pass on, or you may return to your own realm."

Zelda gaped at the Queen like a fish out of water.

"How? Why?"

"Twice in the span of mere hours," Queen Zelda said, raising a long-fingered hand, "you have unraveled your body to defeat the ultimate Darkness. Twice you have made the greatest sacrifice without hesitation, thinking only of the good of your people. The Goddesses reward such strength, daughter. They will return you to your worldly form, if you'd like."

Zelda nodded once in understanding.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

The Queen sighed, her face taking on a distant look.

"I, too, fought Malladus," she said quietly.

"That was really his name?" Zelda didn't mean to interrupt. She really didn't. But the words burst out of her.

"That is one of his names," the Queen corrected gently. "He has many. Wrath of Demise. Plague of the Picori. Majora. He is a legendary and undying evil."

"But I defeated him," Zelda said, confused.

The Queen smiled again, but it was a sad smile.

"There must be balance in all things," she said simply. "For Light, there is Darkness, and Shadow in between. Malladus is dead— for now. But so long as there is love in the world, there will be hate, and Malladus will one day rise again."

Zelda whuffed out a gust of air, irritated.

"However," said the Queen, "it will not be for many, many eons. You have led the world into an age of Light, my beautiful Zelda."

She nodded. The Queen smiled again.

"I fought Malladus, and lost," she said. "I was able to weaken him only, not defeat him."

"Why?" asked Zelda.

"I had allowed myself to become soul bound to a Creature of Power, the King of Beasts. He attempted to use my Light magic in the battle against Malladus, and this backfired, weakening each of us. I was unable to complete the purification of Malladus, and instead sealed him in the body he had possessed— that of the Beast King— until one of my blood could come and complete the task. In doing so, I chose to wait here, before the gates to the ever after, to greet you."

"You knew it would kill me?" Zelda asked, more curious than angry. The Queen's face was remorseful.

"I did," she said. "Do you blame me?"

Zelda shook her head once.

"Can you tell me," the Queen asked quietly, a little desperately, "what happened to my daughter? In the ever after, one can see that which happens in all realms, but in the space between…" she shrugged helplessly.

If she was Queen Zelda IX, then her daughter was Queen Saria II, the fabled Nymph Queen. Zelda smiled and looked at the Queen's hopeful face.

"After your death, the Kingdom was in turmoil from the war. Many of the nobles tried to seize power for themselves, and the Kingdom was fragmented. Impa left your daughter hidden in the woods until she was old enough to claim her crown. Saria rode forth from the Lost Woods with an army of magical creatures at her heels, and she united the Kingdom through magic and goodness. The people adored her, and under her leadership Hyrule entered into a golden age of prosperity. She wed a duke from the Sea of Trees for love, and gave you many grandchildren."

The Queen smiled at this.

"I'm glad," she said quietly. "I was not so fortunate as she. My husband— Onkled, Duke of Gamelon— was a loathsome man. It was he who called down Malladus," she said with a sigh. "And he was consumed by the spirit's power."

Zelda shrugged helplessly. The Queen turned her bright blue eyes on the Princess once more.

"You must choose now, Daughter," she said quietly. "Whether you will go back, or continue forward."

Zelda looked at the Queen, chewing on her lip. Finally, she spoke.

"Link," she said quietly. "What was he to you?"

"I loved him dearly," the Queen responded. "Though not, I think, as he wished me to. His heart was a wild one, but good."

"Can I trust him?" Zelda asked.

The Queen looked at Zelda long and hard. Finally, she spoke.

"That, I cannot answer. Have you made your decision?"

She had. In her mind's eye, she saw Link's eyes, and more: she saw her sisters. She saw Aveil and Ashei bickering. She saw Saria smiling. She saw Tetra reaching out her arms, black eyes bright and happy. Her heart burst with longing.

"I'll go back," she said simply. "To live out my life."

The Queen nodded and smiled, seemingly satisfied with this answer.

"I will see you again in the ever after," she said, and the world around Zelda dissolved.

—

Her first thought was one of agony. Her second thought was that maybe she shouldn't have come back to this life if it was going to hurt so dratted much.

She was kneeling in the wreckage of the throne room. Impa stood in the center of the room, Sheik beside her. Both were staring at Zelda, white as ghosts. On the other side of the room was Link, still in his wolf's half-mask. Before him was the body with the brown hair. He didn't seem to have noticed Zelda's presence. As she watched, he vanished, becoming as transparent as dust motes in sunlight.

The man— the King of Beasts— opened his eyes and groaned, sitting up and pressing a hand to his head. His hair turned blonde, the same color as Link's had been. He looked directly across the rubble at Zelda, and she felt as though she'd been physically struck. The eyes were the same eyes as Link's.

She pushed herself to her feet and limped over to him, using the sword as a walking stick, even as he too clambered up, movements stiff. Zelda went to raise her right arm, but hissed in pain; the deep gash from the Beast King's sword remained. Zelda thought to herself rather mutinously that Queen Zelda had failed to mention that Zelda would be coming back to a painfully battered body; deciding it was too late to deal with it, Zelda instead moved the sword from one hand to the other, then raised her left arm. The wolf mask looked like a puckered film over his face. She touched it gently with two fingers and it slid off into nothingness.

Zelda stared at Link as they stood surrounded by smoking rubble. The man that looked back at her was one of the handsomest she'd ever seen. His blue eyes, though ferocious, were set in a surprisingly gentle face. His mouth looked inclined towards a soft smile. He watched her with all the caution of an uncertain hound.

"How much do you remember?" she asked, stepping back quickly and wrapping her good arm around herself, as though that would protect her from him. Sheik melted tactfully into Zelda's shadow while Impa stepped back into the darkness, giving the two a bit of privacy.

The King of Beasts scratched his head, handsome face pulled into an expression of pain. He wore the face of the man who had manifested beyond the Seal, and yet where Malladus's shadow incarnation had been handsome and cruel, the face of the King of Beasts was good-natured and wild.

"Not a lot," he finally admitted. "It's hard, having two sets of memories jostling in my head. The last thing I really recall with any clarity is… is Queen Zelda pulling my soul from my body. Then it all gets a bit jumbled."

"Do you know who I am?" Zelda asked.

"Of course I know who you are," he responded, as though the question were the stupidest he'd ever heard. "I'm confused, not an idiot."

Zelda recoiled. This new Link was a little different than she'd expected.

"We have a Soul bond," Zelda said anyway. "And before, you… your dark self called me his Queen. Is that true?"

"A Soul bond like ours— one willingly taken on— is a marriage at the deepest level," the King of Beasts responded. "Though I suppose you didn't know that when you bargained with me." His mouth quirked up in a handsome smile that stole Zelda's breath away as forcibly as though Ashei had socked her in the gut. "I've been up to mischief, I see."

"Can I ask you a few questions?" Zelda asked. The King of Beasts nodded once.

"What do you want to know?" He made no moves towards her, instead standing perfectly still several paces away. Zelda had the very distinct impression of a predator ready to strike, and tightened her grip on her sword, useless though her right arm was.

"Were you using me from the start? With the dancing and all?"

He thought about it for a long moment, eyes narrowed in concentration as he sorted through several hundred years' worth of memories. "Yes," Link responded at last. "I was."

"You wanted to make me fall in love with you? Why?"

"When your ancestor pulled my soul and powers from my body, she bound them together into a flawed form, to balance the flow of power in this region," he began. "Though my Light form was strong, I was unable to access the bulk of my powers. I had hoped that either a second Token or the removal of my mask by one of Harkinian blood would fix the flaws in my temporary body and more readily allow me to fight my Dark self," he said, expression and voice opaque. "Though I was incorrect— it was not until you drove the evil from my body that I was able to enter into my old palace." He kneaded his head. "Gads, it's difficult remembering anything with any sort of clarity. Though one thing sticks out."

Zelda felt cold as his words sank through her.

"You should know, Princess," the Beast King said, "My soul was fascinated by you from the first, and my affection is genuine." He touched his chest, as though the sensation was a curiosity, unexpected.

"How do I know I can trust you, after everything?" Zelda was fighting to keep her voice calm. "You've used me, you've lied to me… you tried to steal the magic of one of my ancestors…"

"You don't know you can trust me," he said calmly. "Given all that has happened, your basis for trust in me is nonexistent."

That didn't help her feel any better. Well, at least he wasn't asking her for dances in return for answering her questions. She was consumed with the momentary, idiotic urge to run him through with her shiny new sword.

"Why did the Queen bind you into a flawed form?" Zelda asked. "It seems… intentional, almost. Though I don't know the whole story, only bits and pieces… I've been having dreams."

The Beast King sighed.

"I'd feared you would," he said, and now he sounded a little disappointed. "The power that the Queen— your ancestor— expended still remains strong in the area, and it is unsurprising that you'd encounter remnants of her memories. The spells she wrought in her final moments were born of the same suffering you have been experiencing, and it is natural that the memories would cleave to you when you resonated with similar emotions.

"So I will start from the beginning.

"I was born more than seven hundred years ago. My father was incredibly old, and required a suitable heir— though he had several sons, they had all been born of mortals, and none was a fully realized Creature. Though they each had many traits of an Immortal, including long life spans, none had the capacity to wield the power of the King of Beasts. So my father planted a seed of his power in the Guardian Spring, and it is from this that I was born. My father was happy to have an heir, though my relationship with him was likely as strained as yours is with the King of your realm. I was groomed to succeed my father, and did so when he passed away, one hundred and fifty years after my birth.

"It was not long after this— not long to me, anyway— that turmoil began to occur in the nearby mortal lands. We felt the shockwaves of shifting power even here, and knew that something unnatural was happening. My suspicions were confirmed when a young Queen, just a few years older than you, sought refuge with her trusted servant in my mountains. She had heard of my Kingdom, and thought to seek help with me.

"I was still very young at the time, you must understand; though two hundred years seems like ages to a mortal, I was young for one of my kind, and foolish. Seeing the incredible Light magic of the Queen made me greedy, and I bargained with her. She would bestow a mortal form upon me— my brothers each had one, and I did not— and in return I would banish the evil from her lands. She accepted the deal.

"When she granted me the body of a man, I took the opportunity to soul bond with her. I planned to steal her Light magic and use it for myself, partially to vanquish the evil that had risen in her lands, and partly from pure avarice.

"Of course, I set out into her Queendom, and carved my way through the demon's army."

"Malladus," Zelda said simply. Link's eyes snapped up to her. She shrugged. "It's name was 'Malladus.' It seems like a clearer name than the Demon."

"Right you are," responded the Beast King mildly, though he had shuddered a little at the sound of the demon's name. "I lured Malladus after me, up into my realm, where I was at my strongest. And then, at the moment when the entire battle should have ended, I tried to draw upon the power I had slowly leeched away from the Queen.

"The resulting backfire did incredible damage, weakening both me and the great evil. Malladus possessed me, and my draw upon the Queen's power had weakened her enough that she could not purify me. So she split my soul and powers from my physical form, and granted me a temporary body, but that body came with a catch. When Malladus was weak, at night, I took whichever form I wished— generally that of a man. When Malladus was strong, during the day, I was consigned to the body of a beast.

"When you asked me to bond to you— when you indebted yourself to me— it gave me access to some of the powers that I had lost through your own blood ties to the Queen's magic. I anticipated that this would happen. Though you benefitted greatly from our bond, I perhaps benefitted just as much. It strengthened me countless times over.

"And now I have twice used the powers of your bloodline. I have twice lied."

He bowed his head.

"I loved the Queen dearly, but I loved her much in the way that you love your spellbooks. I have been trapped for a long time in a cursed form— to take the shape of a weak man by day, and the form of a mute beast at night is a great punishment indeed. It was ensnared within these immutable bonds that I learned what it is that makes mortal magic so potent.

"Suffering. Passion. Desire."

His eyes were bright on hers.

"All of which I feel when it comes to you."

Zelda gulped.

"Between my two bodies, I have lived a thousand years in solitude," Link continued. "I have learned the depths of the emotions that mortals carry within their fragile forms— Greed. Suffering. Loss. Loneliness. And I realize that I have erred greatly, though I still maintain I could have taken no other course of action."

Zelda's mouth was dry. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, so she contented herself with blinking a few times. Link watched her face carefully, his own expression unreadable, before he moved forward with the slow grace of a wolf. Zelda held up her hand to halt his approach.

"May… may I see your true form?" she asked quietly.

Link paused. Then, slowly, he nodded.

The light around him shifted, drawing inward. He was bathed in the glow of the same pink magic that Zelda recognized as the ancient Queen's. It brightened until Zelda was blinded, and then faded.

A wolf taller than a horse stood before her. He was golden, though he had white marks on his forehead that shifted ceaselessly in a kind of crown. Link bowed his giant shaggy head as Zelda stared at him.

He was magnificent.

Link shifted back to the form of a man and Zelda didn't even have the strength to protest as he stood before her. Slowly, he dipped his mouth down to hers to kiss her once, lips lingering on hers, light as the touch of a butterfly. Before she could respond to the kiss— lean in, push away, she wasn't sure which she wanted to do— he stepped back again.

"I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me one day," he said, leaning his forehead against Zelda's. Her eyes fluttered shut as her heart skipped a beat at his next words.

"I release you, beautiful Zelda, from the debt that binds you to me."

She felt the magic of her debt to him unravel. She gasped, stunned, and looked inward. The soul bond was still firmly intact. She looked up at the Beast King, eyes curious as a hand went to her chest.

"Why?"

"You are my Queen," he said. "It would be unseemly."

"I'm not your Queen," Zelda responded. She took a step back from him, and then another. "I don't even know you. You're different from the Link I know."

"He is within me," the King of Beasts said, touching one hand to his chest. "He is the essence of who I am."

"I have duties and responsibilities in Hyrule," Zelda said, continuing to back away. "I can't stay here. I'm going home."

He watched her, blue eyes bright, and then finally exhaled.

"I promised you I wouldn't force you to stay here, and I won't," he said, frowning as though this promise annoyed him. "You can walk away from this, Princess. You can run as fast as you can, if you'd like. But I will come for you one day."

"I'll keep running," Zelda said, even as her back bumped into the wall. She groped her way towards the door of the throne room. Link watched her for a long moment, and then he smiled. It was a smile full of promise, wild and hungry and completely predatorial, and it sent a shock of fear and desire straight from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

"I'm the King of Beasts. I always catch what I chase. And one day, Princess, I promise you: you'll want to be caught."

Without another word, Zelda turned and fled.


	9. Epilogue

Tetra was the first one to run and embrace her as she limped back into camp a bit after lunchtime, covered in blood and dragging the sword behind her. Beside her, Impa wasn't faring much better; the Sheikah had taken substantial damage during the battle, and she was hobbling along beside the Princess, thoroughly battered, clutching a broken wrist. The two had helped themselves to the few potions in the pockets of Zelda's skirt that hadn't broken; however, they hadn't helped as much as Zelda would have liked. She was annoyed that her frantic preparations from the night before had turned out to be so useless.

"Zelda!"

Tetra threw her arms around her sister, and Zelda hissed as Tetra's arm came into contact with a nasty welt.

"It's dead," Zelda said as Tetra's arms loosened. "It's over." A crowd was gathering around the two. The guards circled the sisters, forming an entourage as they hobbled back in towards the camp.

"Where did you go? What happened? We were worried sick! You vanished straight out of your tent— Julietta ran out screaming, and we had to get Ashei and Saria to team up with all of the other magic users in the camp to blast through your ward, and it took ages, and you were simply poof! Gone."

Tetra was babbling. Zelda looked at her sister only to see tears tracing tracks down her cheeks. "And it was the second time in as many days and Goddesses Zelda if you ever do anything like this ever again, I swear that I will personally track you down and drag you back by your hair."

"It wasn't my choice," Zelda said, even as Ashei and Saria staggered up, looking as weary as Zelda felt.

"Nice of you to come back, yeah?" Ashei asked.

"Yeah," responded Zelda.

"You look awful," Saria said with a cringe.

"You should see the other guy," Zelda responded. Her legs began to shake, and a guard stepped forward to assist her. Zelda waved him off. It would hurt less to walk than it would to have anyone pressing on the numerous lacerations that covered her skin— from what, she wasn't sure.

"So it's done, then?" Ashei asked. Zelda nodded once. The fourth princess smiled.

"What happened? What's going on? Why doesn't anyone tell me anything?" Tetra asked, frantic.

"I'll tell you about it later," Zelda responded as she saw the King approaching. "Though chances are you won't believe it anyway."

—

That night, Zelda played harp and performed a few cheap tricks— understandable, given her condition. Battling rogue sorcerers was no easy task, after all.

_As if_. After this, dealing with a rogue sorcerer would (for Zelda) be like exorcising a Poe: child's play.

The King of Beasts didn't come to the dance, and for this, Zelda was grateful. She would probably drown him with all the Water she could summon if he showed up. He'd steadily been supplying her with magic that she didn't want all day. She didn't need it now; when Malladus had been vanquished, the last of the Queen's spellwork had vanished, and a tremendous amount of natural power that belonged to the Kingdom was released. Zelda hadn't realized that Hyrule had so much raw magic to it, and that it was available to the Royals— she made a note to look it up when she got back to the palace.

She couldn't wait to get home.

Over the course of the day, Julietta had tried to approach Zelda several times. Each time, she pretended not to see the tearful Golden Princess. When Romio approached Zelda at the dance, though, it had taken all her restraint not to summon the sword that laid in her tent— she knew, somehow, that if she called it it would appear in her hand— and ram it straight through his stupid stomach.

"Zelda," Romio started, "I didn't want to do it. I…"

The fire in a candle near Zelda exploded, creating a small fireball, before vanishing in a poof of smoke.

"Don't speak to me," she hissed. "You could have caused the downfall of Hyrule, because you were greedy and foolish and afraid to make sacrifices— sacrifices that _I_ had to make for you."

"Zelda," Romio tried again. Zelda zipped up his mouth with a single Word of Power.

"I forsake all vows of kinship with you," she said. "Stay away from me, or I'll tell everyone what exactly it was that you and Julietta did. I do not, and will not, forgive you. Now leave."

She made a spinning motion with her finger, and Romio turned around. A flick of her hand had him walking off, arms and legs moving in stilted, mechanical ways as he fought the enchantment. Zelda didn't take the spell off of him until she had calmed down enough to stop making Fires blow out and Water slosh in goblets— which took well over half an hour. She hoped that the walking spell had, in the meantime, carried stupid Romio straight off of a cliff.

The next day, the camp was quickly and efficiently packed up. Zelda managed to argue her way back onto her horse, a free-spirited mare named Thistle. She'd wrapped her new sword in a makeshift scabbard of cloth, then tied it to her saddle. The procession looked like a ruby ribbon winding through the forest with everyone in their red cloaks for the _Carrus Din_. Zelda rode beside Tetra, speaking in low tones from behind the scarlet hood of her cloak about what had happened. (Julietta and Romio stayed, thankfully, far away.) She left no detail out, unburdening herself completely to her sister. Every last sensation, from the feel of Link's lips on her skin to the way that the realm between realms smelled, was described to Tetra. It took her until well into the afternoon to complete the story, and by the time she was finished, Tetra's eyes were wide as saucers. Her hands were white on the reins.

"How could they?" she asked, glaring at Romio and Julietta's distant backs. "I'm glad you didn't kill Romio, Zel— I'll do it for you. Selfish," she spat. "They wrecked your future and could have ruined the country. Just you wait until I tell Ashei, she'll pummel him to a pulp."

"No. You can't tell anyone," Zelda emphasized. "I mean it, Tet. _Nobody_ can know about any of this. Not Ashei, not Aveil, nobody."

"Why not?" asked Tetra in a flare of temper. "Don't you want people to know that you've saved the Kingdom?"

Zelda sighed, rubbing her forehead with a knuckle. "This isn't about me," she said. "Or even about Romio and Julietta. This is about magic. The people will panic if they find out that there was an evil force that killed people by sucking them dry for hundreds of years. Everyone is already terrified of strong magic users; it could easily blow up into a mass hysteria and lead to an inquisition or a war. The people want to feel like they're safe from magic, that the Academy has it all in hand. If word of this got out, it would undermine the strength of the Academy and the next thing you know, people would be accusing their village witches of nonsense like eating their young to become stronger."

"I think you're overreacting," said Tetra a little skeptically.

"Don't you remember," Zelda asked desperately, "after the battle that Link and I fought against the corrupted Beast King, how the people were afraid and angry, even though I had protected them? What do you think would happen if the people of the kingdom found out that I could rip apart demons? I would be mobbed and torn apart, and I wouldn't be able to defend myself— everyone who goes through the Academy takes a Vow to harm no innocents. People acting out of fear count as innocents. Please, Tet. You can't tell _anyone_."

"I promise I won't say a thing," Tetra grudgingly responded. Sheik shifted restlessly from his perch on Zelda's shoulder. Since regaining the last of his strength that morning, the Sheikah had not seemed particularly inclined to remain in Zelda's shadow, and she didn't want him to leave, either; though they hadn't discussed the battle, Zelda would feel more comfortable with Sheik physically present for a long while yet. She absently raised a hand to stroke the inky blackness of his feathers.

Impa was riding with the King, ostensibly to feed him a cock and bull story about what exactly had happened in the woods. Zelda hadn't spoken with her about what had happened either, but was in no rush to do so.

"Do you think he'll come after you?" Tetra asked as Zelda's eyes nervously scanned the tree line.

"One day, maybe," she responded. Tetra watched her sister's face for a moment before hedging another question.

"Do you want him to?"

Zelda sighed. "I don't know, Tet," she responded. "When he was… when he was split, I cared for him. Deeply. But now he's a stranger."

"Is he really, though?" Tetra asked philosophically. "He said it himself— you know who he is at his deepest level. Isn't the rest all… I don't know, trimmings?"

Zelda shrugged.

"I suppose we'll see one day," she said.

The two rode on in silence for a little while longer before Tetra spoke again.

"What sort of ramifications do you think this will have?" she asked.

"It's hard to say," Zelda responded, eyes scanning the tree line again. "But magic will come back to the Peak Province, and with it, magical creatures will come too. I think we'll be hearing more than a few reports at the palace about strange happenings in the woods."

Tetra studied Zelda's face for a long moment, then reached out and grabbed Zelda's hand, squeezing tight.

"Everything is going to be fine," Tetra said, giving Zelda the warm consolation she hadn't known she'd needed. "Don't worry. Focus on yourself for a little while. You've done far more than any of us could ever ask for you."

"I'm afraid," Zelda said, and she was surprised at how small her voice was, and how true the words were.

"Don't be."

Zelda took a deep breath and nodded once.

"Alright."

And she squared her shoulders and set her spine, pulled her red cloak tighter around herself, and rode on towards Hyrule, never once looking back at the woods or the wolf behind her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** There you have it! I know that a lot of you are probably screaming at your screens right now because Zelda and Link don't get together in the end… but come on now. After everything he did, after all the ways he used her, Zelda would never just give in to him without a fight. Plus, that means that all the effort he'll have to expend making pretty to her could make for a hell of a story…

So, will there be a sequel? I don't know. Maybe. I enjoyed writing this story, and I really like the world that it's set it, and I wouldn't be averse to revisiting it someday.

If you feel like reviewing, please tell me what you liked and what you didn't like, what you think could have used more work, or what you would have liked to see instead of what I did. I'd like to come back to this story and revise it in a few months, but for now, I'm totally sick of looking at it.

If you want some more ZeLinky goodness in the meantime, please check out the stories of my good friend **CrazygurlMadness**. Her current work in progress, **Fighting Gravity**, is absolutely brilliant. Her other stories are excellent as well, and her oneshots are the perfect length for a quick dose of fluffy wonderfulness.

To get in touch with me, to find out about progress on upcoming projects, or to read my notes on the creation of Into the Woods, please check out my blog at cobwebcity dot blogspot dot com. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please drop me a line and let me know what you thought of it. The biggest motivation for me to actually post what I write is feedback, and knowing that it makes people happy. So if you want me to write more, please review! I can only grow as a writer if you help me to improve.

Until next time,

Lyxie

_Uploaded on Saturday, February 4, 2012, at 1:40 PM Central time._


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